Editorial | Hong Kong savers would welcome regular offerings of iBonds
- Launch of latest popular inflation-linked investment during such an uncertain economic time has attracted record interest and is oversubscribed 3.6 times
The government-issued debt is about as safe as an investment can get in the city, in an environment of near-zero interest rates.
It offers an alternative to speculating in stocks and property, with both showing signs of froth. No wonder the new three-year iBonds have attracted record interest.
They are oversubscribed 3.6 times, collecting a record HK$54.58 billion from 717,000 people, or almost one in 10 people in the city.
The most popular and biggest of eight rounds of iBonds since they were first introduced a decade ago, the latest batch underscores investors’ yearning for yield as well as safety. An interest payment will be made every six months and is to be calculated by the average rate of the consumer price index over that half-year period.