£l0 MILLION LOAN

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27993, 13 June 1956, Page 12

£l0 MILLION LOAN

Interest Rate To 4 5-8 Per Cent. ? SHORT TERM ALSO OFFERED (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 12. The terms of the Government’s £10,000,000 “1956 Progress Loan” were announced in a national broadcast this evening by the Minister of Finance (Mr J. T. Watts'. The loan will otten on Thursday and details of the three terms it embraces were given by the Minister. The interest rate will be 4 5-8 per cent, for an 11-year term and per cent for a five-year term. In addition, stock will be offered for a three-year term, which will bear interest at 4 3-8 per cent. “There appears to have developed a demand for a shorter term where money required for other purposes is available for temporary investment.” said the Minister, referring to the three-year term proposal. All stock will be issued at par. It will be available for the payment of death duty and for the payment of income tax and social security charges in a deceased stockholder's estate. The minimum subscription to the 1956 Progress Loan will be £5O. “MARKET STABILITY * WILL HELP LOAN ” COMMENT OF AUCKLAND EXCHANGE CHAIRMAN (New Zealana Press Association > i AUCKLAND. June 12. With the possible exception of the; five-year 4£ per cent, issue, the yields' offered by the Progress Loan were i closely in line with current market' rates, said the chairman of the Auck- ; land Stock Exchange. Mr Leslie E. R. Wakeman, this evening. The five-year 44 per cent. loan; issued by the Government in its con- i version operation last March, he said, ’ was being currently quoted at a dis- i count of 10s and showed a redemption yield of slightly more than £4 Ils; per cent. The inclusion of a short-term threeyear issue should prove attractive to many investors, and the issue at par l was again a welcome feature. As a result of the announcement by the Minister of Finance last March that the current cash loan would be made with the same terms as those for the conversion loan, the market had been stable over the past few months, said Mr Wakeman, even though it had been fairly inactive. If the investing public were satisfied that this stability would continue, there -should be no difficulty in filling the loan.