The Kingdom of Denmark can issue short-term debt under two of its debt programmes:
- T-bills
- Commercial Papers
Both programmes are a vital part of the Danish government's liquidity reserve. The target is to have a maximum outstanding volume of DKK 35 billion in the central government’s short-term loan programmes at the end of 2024.
T-bill programme
Issuances in T-bills are part of the central government's and Danmarks Nationalbank's liquidity reserve and make up the main portion of total short-term borrowing.
What are T-bills?
T-bills and short-term loans are standardised contracts denominated in kroner and with a maturity of six months when opened. New 6-month T-bills will be opened at auctions with the first banking day in March, June, September and December, respectively, as the value date.
As a general rule, two monthly auctions of T-bills will be held. For information about the next auction or previous auction results, see the auction calendar or T-bill auction results.
Commercial paper programmes
The commercial paper (CP) programmes provide access to short-term financing, which is flexible and characterised by being a market with deep liquidity. The commercial paper programmes are active, but the total outstanding in the programmes is kept at a small share of total short-term borrowing.
What are commecial papers?
CPs are short-term foreign loans with non-standardised contracts, implying a high degree of flexibility in regard to size, maturity and currency. When issued by the central government, commercial papers are usually denominated in either EUR or USD, have a maturity of one year or less and are zero-coupon instruments. The European Commercial Paper (ECP) programme allows for issues denominated in different foreign currencies, including EUR and USD, but the United States Commercial Paper (USCP) programme only allows for loans denominated in USD. While the size of the contract is flexible, there is a maximum issuance under each programme (ECP and USCP) of USD 12 billion.