Government of Malta - 2016 MGS Indicative Calendar

On 7 January, the Treasury of Malta announced that the amount of issuance of Malta Government Stocks during 2016 will not exceed €600 million. The funds raised will be used to finance the government’s borrowing requirements (estimated at €196 million) during the year as well as to finance the redemption of four MGS issues during 2016 amounting to €417.77 million and the repayment of a bank loan of €56.38 million.

The Treasury explained that similar to previous years it will be issuing two different types of securities – the conventional fixed rates MGS’s and also Floating rate MGS’s linked to the 6-month Euribor. The latter are principally targeted for institutional investors.

The Treasury is aiming to spread its issuance programme over 4 to 5 issues with the first issue expected to take place in February 2016.

The maturity structure of the 2016 MGS issue programme will be a mix of short and medium to long term MGS. The full details of the stocks on offer and the respective amounts and maturities will be published 1 to 2 weeks prior to each offer.

The Treasury reiterated that all MGS issues will continue to include a clause referred to as the Model Collective Action Clauses (CACs) in line with the modifications endorsed by all euro area member states on 2 February 2012 in relation to the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). By virtue of these new clauses, only a simple majority is needed to re-contract sovereign debt (issued on or after 1 January 2013 and with a maturity of more than 1 year) thereby facilitating agreement between the sovereign and its private-sector creditors.

In the press release, the Treasury also explained that it will continue to hold auctions for treasury bills on a weekly basis.