Foreign investors are no longer the main buyers and have reduced their holdings by more than 60% in the last year.

MADRID, 25 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Households and private non-profit institutions serving households (Isflsh) consolidated themselves in 2023 as the largest holders of Treasury bills, closing the year with 24,428 million euros.

According to the latest data published by the Bank of Spain and collected by Europa Press, the high profitability of short-term securities has had a very considerable effect on the distribution of Treasury bill holdings, where households and non-financial institutions For the first time in 2023, they have become the largest holders of this type of debt.

As an example, the participation of households in the purchase of bills has gone from 1,826 million euros at the end of 2022 to 24,428 million in December 2023. Thus, they have significantly increased their participation in the last year, going from a share of 2 .4% in December 2022 to more than 34% in 2023.

After increasing their holdings by almost 2% compared to the month of November, households are the largest holder of Spanish Treasury bills in December for the fourth time in history, ahead of foreign investors (16,529 million), who in the Last year they have been reducing their holdings in this type of debt, falling by more than 60%.

Behind foreign investors, the next holders of Treasury bills are money market funds and other financial intermediaries (10,550 million), monetary financial institutions (10,286 million), non-financial corporations (5,544 million) and public administrations (4,262 million).

The improvement in the interests offered, in line with the increases in interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB) in recent months, has maintained the markets' investor appetite for Spanish securities.

Thus, individual investors are showing great interest in purchasing debt, mainly in the short term, given its high profitability, which has grown since the beginning of 2022, especially in the case of shorter-term bills, although it has already stabilized.

The Treasury's 2024 financing strategy foresees new financing needs of around 55 billion for this year, which represents a reduction of 10 billion compared to 2023.

For its part, the expected gross issuance will amount to 257,572 million euros, 2% higher than that of 2023 due to the increase in amortizations, and the bulk will be covered by the issuance of medium and long-term instruments with the objective of maintaining the average life of the public debt portfolio.

With regard to regular issues of Treasury securities, 48 ​​ordinary auctions of State Bills and Bonds and Obligations are planned. Furthermore, in 2024, the Treasury will once again resort to syndications for the issuance of certain references of State Obligations.

Other objectives for 2024 will be to maintain the diversification of the investor base and commit to the issuance of green bonds as a structural element of the financing program, thus reinforcing the sustainable finance market in Spain.