KARACHI, Sept 25 Pakistan's central bank said on Tuesday it planned to raise 15 billion r

KARACHI, Sept 25 (Reuters) Pakistan's central bank said on Tuesday it planned to raise 15 billion rupees ($247.56 million) through an auction of long-term government bonds next month.

The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement it planned to reopen the Aug. 22, 2007, issues of the three-, five- and 10-year Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) on Oct. 9.

It would also re-open Oct. 31, 2006 issues of 15- and 20-year PIBs, in addition to reopening the Dec. 22, 2006 issue of the 30-year bond, it said.

Settlement will be on Oct. 10.

The three-, five-, 10-, 15- and 20-year PIBs carry annual coupons of 9.1, 9.3, 9.6, 10 and 10.5 percent respectively, while the 30-year paper carries a coupon of 11 percent.

This will be the second PIB auction to be conducted by the government in the 2007/08 fiscal year, which began on July 1.

The last PIB auction was held on Aug. 21, when the central bank sold 14.84 billion rupees worth of long-term bonds.

The central bank then set a cut-off yield of 10.3509 percent on the benchmark 10-year paper, 9.8916 on the five-year and 9.6881 percent on the three-year PIBs.

It also set a cut-off yield of 11.1494 percent for the 15-year PIB, 11.4016 percent for the 20-year and 11.6802 percent for the 30-year securities.

Pakistan launched its first long-term PIBs in December 2000 to tap institutional investment and set a benchmark for corporate bond yields. It issued a 30-year bond for the first time in December last year.

($1 = 60.59 Pakistani rupees) REUTERS SBA DS1431