Kenya to maintain T-bills auction schedule-cbanker

* 91-day and 182-day T-bills on alternate weeks

* Rejects claims of under-subscription

NAIROBI, July 27 (Reuters) - Kenya will maintain its policy of auctioning the 91-day and the 182-day Treasury bills separately on alternate weeks, its central bank governor said on Tuesday.

The bank had departed from that policy by offering bills of both maturities at last week's auction before announcing it had cancelled the sale of the 91-day bills, angering some traders. [ID:nLDE66M0H6]

"The CBK (Central Bank of Kenya) will continue separating 91- and 182- day Treasury bills in the weeks ahead to continue developing the yield curve in the shorter end of the market," Njuguna Ndung'u said in a statement to Reuters.

"The CBK cancelled the 91-day Treasury bills auction because it wanted to remain consistent with the policy adapted in FY 2009/10 where the auctions for the two securities were separated and held in alternate weeks."

The actual performance of the 182-day Treasury bill auction was a subscription rate of 147.7 percent, he said, rejecting claims in local media that the sale was under-subscribed.

The government wanted to raise 9 billion shillings ($111.3 million) from auction of bills of both maturities before changing its mind and raising money only from the 182-day bills, creating the impression there was an under-subscription.

"The actual performance for this auction was 147.7 percent. By trying to raise the full amount from the single 182-day Treasury bills auction, the cut-off rate edged up 19.9 basis points," he said.

Kenya's debt market has enjoyed plenty of interest since the second half of last year on the back of automation and ample liquidity chasing yields. As a result, the yield curve has slipped for most of this year. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Ron Askew)