Africa Bonds

The announcement this week that the IMF is on its way to issuing a further $650bn of special drawing rights, providing central banks with extra foreign currency liquidity, should not be criticised for being too little, too late. It marks a much needed return to multilateralism, something that the developing world will benefit from.

Rating: B3/B-/B

Volatility in the US Treasury market has been the thorn in emerging market bond issuers' sides this quarter. Though bankers had expected borrowers front-load issuance, concerns about global interest rates and investor appetite have dulled volumes.

The Republic of Ghana entered the bond market on Monday to sell a multi-tranche dollar bond, which some market participants have called “ambitious”. Some believe the issuer is putting size before price as it tries to locate funding for its 2021 budget.

Zambia and the IMF will resume negotiations on an extended credit facility package, having missed the first deadline.

Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production company Seplat Petroleum entered the international bond markets on Thursday seeking to raise dollar funding. As primary issuance re-starts in the CEEMEA region, Seplat is one of a few high yielding names testing the temperature.

The Republic of Ghana, one of the few African sovereigns to have tapped capital markets last year, this week mandated banks to arrange a dollar bond. The multi-tranche bond, market participants say, will demonstrate investors’ appetite for high yield credit.

A number of sub-Saharan African sovereigns are eyeing the Eurobond market, after a year that saw dismally low levels of capital markets issuance from the region. But investors are still on the hunt for yield, market participants say, which can be found in abundance in Africa.

Bond markets have been settling in for a period of higher US Treasury yields since Wednesday when the Federal Reserve confirmed it did not expect to raise rates before 2024. While that made long-dated issuance trickier for SSA issuers, there was hope that emerging market bond issuance will soon resume, even if a bumpy ride lies in wait. Mariam Meskin, Oliver West and Lewis McLellan report.

CEEMEA bond market participants were keeping an eye on the US Federal Reserve this week, after weeks of volatility in the US Treasury market. Whatever the Fed announces after this week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting will dictate whether CEEMEA bond supply resumes next week.

Green bond issuance is set to blossom in Africa — at least, that is the hope of FSD Africa, an organisation in Kenya that has agreed to cooperate with a group of stock exchanges to foster the market in 16 of the continent's countries. Substantial deals are expected from Kenya and Malawi in the coming months.

Most debt repayment strains in emerging markets have been contained, according to the Institute of International Finance, but there are still concerns about the organisation of debt relief and debt sustainability.