The total value of State treasury bill transactions have reached nearly VND21 trillion (US$1 billion), the Hanoi Stock Exchange has reported.

Treasury bills are Government bonds issued by the Ministry of Finance with terms of less than a year to compensate for the State budget. They are also an important tool for the State Bank of Vietnam to operate monetary policies.

Treasury bill trading on the Hanoi bourse began on August 24, 2012, and ever since, the transactions have grown significantly in value, the exchange said.

Trading reached more than VND909 billion (US$43.28 million) in 2012 and nearly VND11.70 trillion (US$557.14 million) in 2013.

In the first seven months of this year, trading hit more than VND8 trillion (US$380.95 million), representing about 70% of last year's entire amount.

Commercial banks accounted for more than 75% of the total transaction value on the market while securities companies accounted for about 5%. The value of bills traded through brokerages of securities companies made up about 20%.

Foreign investors traded about VND930 billion (US$44.28 million) worth of bills in 2012 and about VND9.61 trillion (US$457.62 million) in 2013.

In the first seven months of this year, they traded about VND4.33 trillion (US$206.19 million) worth of bills.

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