The total turnover of the bond market declined by 54.8% to ¢954.15 million at the end of trading last week.

According to market statistics, the slowdown in activity was primarily due to the relatively quiet sessions on the market as the government engaged stakeholders regarding the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

The October 2024, May 2023 and Jun 2028 papers drove trading activity with total volumes of ¢107.60 million, ¢133.78 million and ¢105.39 million respectively.

Analysts, however, expect muted activity this week on the market as the deadline for participating in the DDEP ends today, January 31, 2022, unless otherwise.

A week before, market activity on the bond market improved by 319.2% week-on-week to ¢2.11 billion as Domestic Debt Exchange programme gathered momentum.

The government made significant step last week on the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) after some key stakeholders agreed to some terms of the DDEP, including payment of a 5% coupon rate on the new bonds in 2023.

The amended terms also included the removal of clauses in the exchange memorandum that empowers the government to vary the terms of exchange.