The total value of State treasury bill transactions have reached nearly 21 trillion VND (1 billion USD), 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 909 billion VND (43.28 million USD) in 2012 and nearly 11.70 trillion VND (557.14 million USD) in 2013. In the first seven months of this year, trading hit more than 8 trillion VND (380.95 million USD), representing about 70 percent of last year's entire amount.

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

Foreign investors traded about 930 billion VND (44.28 million USD) worth of bills in 2012 and about 9.61 trillion VND (457.62 million USD) in 2013. In the first seven months of this year, they traded about 4.33 trillion VND (206.19 million USD) worth of bills.-VNA