“There’s a real chance to kill Letermem Bone’s record.”

For the first time, the Treasury issues one-year government bonds, and the Belgian likes it. And just after midnight, the first interested party signed up online, and that number rose to more than 30,000, according to the latest figures, which were published around 7 p.m. Thursday evening. Good at 1.147 billion euros. The debt agency talks about great success and expects that approximately the same amount will be collected through banks. An official interim result on the total amount will not be released until Friday, but the enthusiasm for government bonds with a net interest rate of 2.81 percent is clearly high.

For Pascal Pepin, Lecturer in Banking and Stock Exchange at KU Leuven and Co-Founder of Spaarvarkens.be, the success came as no surprise. Interest rates are very high and many citizens are frustrated with banks that have refused to raise interest rates in recent years. You can also join with as little as €100, which means that people with lower savings suddenly have opportunities too.

He added, “The government is in a bad financial situation, but the state will not go bankrupt. Additionally, it is a short-term investment so you don’t run the risk of interest rates suddenly rising much faster elsewhere. There are many rationales for choosing this.”

You can sign up for the country coupon until August 31st. It remains to be seen how much will be raised at that time. Government bonds issued by then Prime Minister Yves Leterme (CD&V) in 2011 amounted to €5.7 billion. But that was a period of great economic uncertainty in which the government was also unreliable. “There is a real chance that these government bonds will break the record set in 2011.”

According to preliminary figures, early subscribers paid an average of 35,112 euros for their government vouchers on Thursday. A large amount immediately raises the question whether people with such financial reserves would not be better off choosing a more adventurous investment portfolio. Especially since there are more than 300 billion in Belgian savings accounts and inflation is still high.

“People who invest close to $30,000 in government bonds often already have an investment portfolio,” says Pippen. “We’re in a recession and the share price can always correct. So it’s not a bad idea to invest part of your money in government bonds where you’re not exposed to any risk. Anyone who sleeps better because of that certainty isn’t necessarily doing something bad.

With government bonds, Finance Minister Vincent van Petegem (CD&V) wanted to encourage banks to raise their net interest on long-term accounts. Companies such as AXA, Argenta, Deutsche Bank and Biobank have already done so. “But the banks are afraid because next year clients may get a taste of the investment and not return to it.”