Government raises Rs1.57tr through T-bill auction.

Commercial banks have increased their cost of financing to the cash-strapped government by a fresh 1 percentage point (ppt) to a record high of 21 percent on Wednesday, signalling that the finance market anticipates a further hike in the central bank's key policy rate next month. The government raised debt worth Rs1.57 trillion, through auctioning three 12-month T-bills to commercial banks against its pre-set target of Rs1.8 trillion. Had the government decided to borrow more through the auction, the cut-off yield...