Finance launches new Fidelis issue at the end of this week

Finance is launching a new Fidelis government bond offering, from April 4 to 11, according to a press release from the ministry yesterday.

The offering is divided into six tranches, four in lei and two in euros. The lei tranches have maturities of one, three and five years, with interest rates of 6.6%, 7.3% and 7.6%. The fourth tranche is dedicated to blood donors, with the bonds having a maturity of one year and an interest rate of 7.6%. Unlike previous offers, now Finance has set a maximum threshold of 100,000 lei for blood donor subscriptions.

The euro tranches have maturities of two and seven years, with annual interest rates of 3.6% and 6%.

The minimum subscription is 1,000 euros for euro tranches and 5,000 lei for those in lei, respectively 500 lei for blood donors.

The offer is taking place in a period with inflation above the central banks' targets. In February, inflation was 5%, but the NBR forecasts 3.8% inflation for the last quarter, which will drop to 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2026. In the case of the euro area, the European Central Bank estimates that inflation will fluctuate around the target of 2.3% this year, and will fall to 1.9% next year.

In the process of subscribing to Fidelis government securities, no commissions are charged by intermediary banks, and the income obtained, both from interest and capital gains, is non-taxable.

The securities will be listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, so that investors have the opportunity to sell the bonds before maturity, receiving interest related to the holding period.

Through the previous offer, carried out in March, the Ministry of Finance attracted 2.25 billion lei from investors.

According to Finance, the benefits offered by Fidelis securities also include: the possibility of selling the securities before maturity and receiving interest related to the holding period; special tranches for blood donors, with one percentage point above the usual interest; diversification of maturities for securities in lei and euros.