The Croatian Ministry of Finance sold 1.7 billion kuna (€226m) worth of treasury bills at this year's first auction on Tuesday.

They mature in one year and the interest rate is 0.01 per cent. The proceeds will be used to refinance treasury bills falling due.

In advance of the maturity of treasury bills worth 1.7 billion kuna, the Ministry offered 1.3 billion kuna worth of treasury bills for subscription. Financial institutions submitted bids worth slightly over 2 billion kuna, and the Ministry accepted 1.7 billion kuna.

The low interest rate is the result of a large surplus of liquidity on the domestic financial market, exceeding 77 billion kuna. The balance of subscribed kuna treasury bills has now decreased by 1 billion kuna to 13.7 billion kuna (€1.8bn).

The next auction is set for 8 February.

(€1 = 7.52 kuna)