Belgium has raised a record €21.9 billion ($23.65 billion) from savers in a bond sale designed to compete with bank deposits, a sign of growing popularity for government debt as discontent grows with lenders failing to keep up with surging interest rates. The sale marks the biggest funding drive from households in Belgium’s history and is likely Europe’s biggest retail bond sale, the country’s debt agency says.
I wish the Netherlands would hold a sale like this, only for persons, with a sensible limit of a million or something like that.
There are literally no downsides.
Isn’t it beneficial for the Belgian state though? I didn’t understand it as a favor that the government makes for us citizens. As I understood, this debt has lower interest rates for them. If so, there’s no need to limit who can invest.
Correct. And with a lower debt the country can also borrow other money from the market at lower rate too. Win win. I hope this sparks a discussion about why aren’t banks a public service yet? Private gains in wealthy times and bailed out by taxpayers in crisis time. Hope they fix the roads though
You can simply buy Dutch government bonds through your bank if you want to do so.
Absolutely, I can easily do that right now, but it takes more effort than your average “I have a bank account and that’s it” person is willing to spend.
Having a “public sale” sounds like a great idea for all those people.