Ivory Coast prepares to end Africa’s debt drought with dollar bond sale

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Ivory Coast is making ready to promote the primary US greenback bond concern by a sub-Saharan African state in nearly two years, in a check of whether or not nations on the riskier frontier of the creating world will be capable of return to debt markets in 2024.

The world’s largest cocoa producer plans to concern a nine-year US greenback sustainability bond, the place proceeds are normally earmarked for social initiatives, and a standard 13-year bond, in line with an providing memorandum despatched to traders on Monday.

Ivory Coast additionally intends to purchase again parts of bonds maturing in 2025 and 2032, in line with the memorandum. The nation’s finance ministry didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara signalled this month that his authorities would quickly promote a global bond, positioning the nation to hitch a rush in rising markets to concern international foreign money debt and benefit from a decline in borrowing prices.

Funding-grade international locations equivalent to Mexico and Indonesia have led the issuance to this point this 12 months, however lower-rated African debtors have to this point remained on the sidelines.

Angola and South Africa, two of the area’s largest economies, have been the final to concern international foreign money bonds in 2022, earlier than a world rise in rates of interest in impact shut off market entry to debtors with decrease credit score scores. Since then, a surging greenback, tumbling native currencies and a drop-off in Chinese language loans to the continent have all raised investor doubts that many arduous foreign money money owed may very well be repaid. Final 12 months was the primary since 2009 with none exterior debt issuance in sub-Saharan Africa.

Nevertheless, regardless of fears of a wave of defaults, Ethiopia was the one nation within the area to halt bond funds and search to restructure its money owed in 2023.

Many African governments are hoping bond markets will reopen to them this 12 months, permitting them to refinance maturing money owed at reasonably priced rates of interest and keep away from the necessity to attract down international alternate reserves to pay them off.

About $5bn of African sovereign international foreign money bonds will turn into due this 12 months, and an additional roughly $6bn subsequent 12 months, in line with Moody’s estimates.

Yields on the greenback bonds of Ivory Coast, which carries a so-called “junk” ranking from companies, have just lately fallen to between 7 and eight per cent, signalling that the nation may borrow at related ranges within the coming bond sale, primarily based on a status for relative financial stability.

Ouattara presides over an economic system that’s forecast to develop 6.5 per cent this 12 months, in contrast with lower than 4 per cent for the continent as an entire, in line with the World Financial institution. “We’re constructive on Ivory Coast, resulting from their institutional power and excessive development,” stated an investor wanting on the bond deal.

One possibility to assist take care of looming exterior debt maturities this 12 months is for African states to entry cheaper loans from the IMF and improvement banks, in return for situations on coverage. Native foreign money bond markets are hardly ever deep or low cost sufficient to fill all the funding wants for African governments.

Kenya particularly is juggling a cost due in June on a $2bn greenback bond that the east African nation bought a decade in the past as a part of a rush by frontier economies to benefit from then-low US charges.

Because it gathered sources to assist finance the bond cost, final week President William Ruto’s authorities gained entry to just about $1bn in extra lending from the IMF, and obtained a $210mn mortgage from the Commerce and Growth Financial institution, a regional multilateral lender.