REPORT TO THE PARLIAMENT ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT BOND SINKING FUND IN COMPLIANCE WITH ART. 2, SUB-SECTION 3, OF LAW NO.

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1 REPORT TO THE PARLIAMENT ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT BOND SINKING FUND IN COMPLIANCE WITH ART. 2, SUB-SECTION 3, OF LAW NO. 432 OF OCTOBER 27, 1993 The adaptation of Bond Sinking Fund administrative procedures to the norms set out in legislative decree no. 29 of February 3, 1993 represents the most significant element of the management of the Fund for The modifications were introduced through the revision of the ministerial decree that defines the modalities for use of the amounts available in the account held by the Ministry in the name of the Fund at the Bank of Italy. Legislative decree no. 29 of February 3, 1993, and subsequent modifications and integrations, and in particular, article 3, while attributing to governing bodies the exercise of political-administrative functions and the verification of compliance of the results of administrative activity and management with these same functions, reserves for directors the adoption of administrative acts and measures, including those that engage the administration externally, and financial, technical, and administrative management. The new ministerial decree (D.M. May 29, 2001) established that the use of the available sums in the account held in the name of the Fund should be realized through the issuance of acts and measures by the Director General of the Treasury or, by proxy, by the Head of the Direction of the Department of the Treasury competent in matters of public debt. I. Income and transfers to the Fund In total, in 2001, about 17,432 billion lire were transferred to the Fund. Specifically, the contribution from privatizations was determined principally by the fifth tranche of the transfer of ENI stocks (about 5,226 billion); by the quota relative to the deposit deriving from the adhesion for the entire amount of stocks held by the Treasury to the capital of the Banco di Napoli at the OPA (Public Offering) on behalf of the SANPAOLO (about 956 billion); by the sale of Mediocredito Lombardo (about 75 billion); by the exercise of the option to convert into INA stocks the obligations previously issued in completion of the relative privatization (about 35 billion); by the dismissal of a residual quota of SANPAOLO IMI and Meliorbanca (about 105 billion and 28 billion, respectively); by the transfer of Mediocredito Centrale S.p.A. stocks (about 2 billion); and by the sale of Beni Stabili S.p.A. (about 4.5 billion). The other amounts deposited are derived from the liquidation of IRI (first deposit of 8,000 billion and second of 3,000 billion). 1

2 In addition, January 1st and July 1st, like every year, interest accrued during the previous semester were credited directly to the Fund account. These credits were in the amounts of 97,316,007,374 lire and 284,888,386,155 lire respectively. All the income related to Fund budget items, number 4055 (patrimonial dismissions) and number 3330 (deposits for donations and possible assignations by the Treasury), are shown in detail in the annexed general statement (Table A). The amounts that move through the budget are transferred to account number 522, at the Bank of Italy and in the name of the Fund, by way of decrees of variation between income and expenditures, registered by the State Court of Accounts, and by subsequent payment mandates through expense item number 9565, within the competence of the center responsible Treasury (base previsional unit Government Bond Sinking Fund) of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (ex- Ministry of the Treasury, the Budget and Economic Planning). For the complete outline of activity in the account held in name of the Fund, see the tables of inflows and activity, which show for each date the amounts transferred and the uses thereof, including the interest deposited every year (Table B and Table C). In the course of 2001 all the modalities foreseen by the ministerial decree that regulates the Fund were utilized, and it was possible to distribute the transactions over the whole period, given the availability of consistent residual sums of the previous year determined above all by the assignation of 90% of the proceeds deriving from the tender for UMTS licenses. II. Purchases on the Secondary Market In the first semester a buyback auction was arranged, held on June 19 and settled on June 22, for the purpose of withdrawing three BTPs and one CCT maturing in As usual the bond selection criteria satisfy the necessities of economic convenience and of easing maturity peaks. Only bids made at the most convenient prices were accepted by the Treasury; consequently, no bid was accepted for the sale of the BTP /2002. The table illustrates in detail the buyback transaction. 2

3 BTP SECURITY TYPE /2002 Amount Offered (*) BTP /2002 BTP /2002 CCT / ,225 1,450 1,871 Amount (*) ,067 Bids excluded Amount excluded (*) 822 1, Maximum Price Weighted Average Price Allotment Coupon Accrued Days Outstanding Amount (*) , , , , (*) MLN uro The total cost of the transaction, debited to the Fund on June 22, 2001, the date established for settlement, was 4,355,489,440,872 lire, including the dietimi of interest matured and paid on the bonds themselves. The buyback arranged by mandate through a Specialist in Government bonds were conducted in the months of August and December. The buyback transactions of August were conducted on two thirty-year BTPs with maturity in 2027 and 2029 both for the price convenience and to create more interest in that bond sector, the demand for which has been weak at auction. The BTP /2027 was purchased for a nominal value of 230 million euros and the BTP /2029 for a nominal value of 770 million euros. The total cost of the transactions, including accrued interest, was 1,902,525,468,693 lire. In December the transactions were spread over three settlement dates (December 17, 18 and 19) and BTPs with maturity in 2002 and 2003 were chosen with the intention to ease the profile of maturities for the biennium. The amounts, by type and value, are outlined below: 3

4 Security type Date Issue/Maturity Coupon ISIN Code Nominal amount purchased BTP / % IT ,000,000 BTP / % IT ,000,000 BTP / % IT ,000,000 BTP / % IT ,000,000 The use of the Fund was equal to 1,986,073,926,611 lire, which also includes the dietimi of interest matured and paid on the bonds themselves. The transactions took place according to the procedure illustrated below. For each bond handled, at the opening of the market the intermediary was informed of the price, equivalent to a certain yield expressed in differential terms (spread) with respect to the Euribor, and over the course of the day such levels were continually observed and updated, taking into account the market trend. For transactions, the intermediary indicated to the Treasury amounts and prices and the Treasury verified the compliance of the negotiation terms with real market terms, and also with the indicated spread constraints. When the proposals were deemed congruous, the Treasury communicated to the intermediary the decision on quantitatives and the corresponding prices for each bond. At market closure, the operator sent to the Treasury a summary of the transactions concluded in the course of the day. III. Payments upon maturity The available amounts deposited in the account held in the name of the Fund can be used not only for bond repurchase transactions on the market, but also for the redemption of bonds at maturity. In such cases, in fact, it can be more convenient to resort to this procedure, which allows for the easing of pressure on market rates through lesser issues on the primary market, especially in the case of refunding of relevant amounts of maturing bonds. Such an option becomes even more advantageous if bond prices on the secondary market are expensive. In 2001 bonds were reimbursed upon maturity for a nominal value of 9,200 million euros. 4

5 The redemption-at-maturity use of the availability of the Fund allowed for a reduction of the quantitatives offered at auction, easing the pressure on the primary market from April to May by way of the following transactions: a) partial redemption of the BTP /01 for a nominal value of 5,200 million euros, using Fund for an amount of about 10,069 billion lire; b) partial redemption of the CTZ /01 for a nominal value of 4,000 million euros, using Fund for an amount of about 7,330 billion lire. The residual activity of early repayment was also carried out, monthly, at the market prices of November 26, 1998, as set out in the D.M. of September 21, It has regarded bearer and nominative bonds belonging to current bonds issued by the Treasury for less than five million lire, as well as of fractions of capital inferior to that amount, in compliance with article 41 of legislative decree no. 213 of June 24, 1998, which contains provisions for the introduction of the euro in Italy. The reimbursements during 2001 in accordance with above were equal to 39 million in nominal value, corresponding to about 48 million lire of use of the Fund. In conclusion, all the Fund transactions in 2001 reduced the nominal value of the debt of the Public Administration by 13,409 million euros, contributing to a reduction of the relative ratio to GDP in the measure of about 1.1%. Attachments: D.M. of May 29, 2001; summary table of budget receipts of the Fund; summary table of the Fund flows and utilization; summary tables of movements broken down by year; summary table of the debt reduction operations; table of the Fund financial statement; charts with the summary of the annual management; charts illustrating the impact of the redemption and buyback transactions. Rome, May 30, 2002 THE MINISTER (Prof. Giulio Tremonti) 5