New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS): The central government has raised Rs.180,000 crore issuing dated securities during the first quarter of the current fiscal, which is 30 percent of the budget estimates (BE), an official statement said on Thursday.

In a statement issued here, the finance ministry said the amount raised during the first quarter of the fiscal is lower than Rs.198,000 crore raised during the first three months of the last fiscal.

According to the statement, net market borrowings during the quarter at 23.6 per cent of BE were also lower than 26.6 per cent of BE in the previous year.

Auctions during the quarter were held broadly in accordance with the pre-announced calendar, the government said.

According to the statement, four new securities were issued during the quarter, including a new 10-year benchmark paper.

The weighted average maturity (WAM) of dated securities issued during Q1 of 2015-16 was at 15.19 years.

The weighted average yield (cut-off) of issuance during Q1 of FY16, was at 7.92 percent as against 7.79 percent in Q4 of 2014-15, reflecting marginal hardening in yields during the quarter.

While the liquidity conditions in the economy remained tight during mid-part of the quarter and eased towards the quarter-end, the government's cash position during the period under review was comfortable and was in surplus.

The issuance amount under Treasury bills were also broadly as per calendar.

The public debt (excluding liabilities under the 'Public Account') of the central government provisionally increased by 3.5 percent in first quarter of 2015-116 on quarter-on-quarter basis.

Internal debt constituted 92.3 percent of public debt as at end-June 2015, while marketable securities accounted for 84.2 percent of public debt.

The statement said 29.5 percent of the outstanding securities will be maturing in five years, or tthat on an average over the next five years, around 5.9 percent of the outstanding stock needs to be rolled over every year.

The debt roll over risk is low and the implementation of budgeted buy back/switches in the coming years will reduce the roll over risk further.

According to the statement, the government securities market opened the quarter on a positive note due to weak US job data and the yields hardened during the quarter.

The yield of 10-year benchmark paper breached 8 percent in May 2015, first time since mid- December 2014. Ten year benchmark yield closed at 7.87 percent on June 30, 2015 as against 7.80 percent on March 31, 2015.