Africa
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The IMF and Zambia will continue their negotiations about a package to put the country on a path to financial stability, the Fund said on Thursday, after the deadline for initial talks had passed the day before with no deal agreed. But market participants are still demanding more transparency over the defaulted sovereign's external debts. -
South Africa is set to come to the market for a dollar bond, despite rising US Treasury yields unsettling bond investors. High yielding emerging markets borrowers are insulated from the volatility in the US govvie market for now, market participants said.
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Ghana has secured two loan agreements, which are backed by the export credit agency of Italy, Sace. There is more room for the ECA-backed market to grow in the region, sources close to the deal said.
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Expectations of increased demand for emerging market local currency bonds are starting to wane, as the macroeconomic backdrop and interest rate volatility point to a stronger dollar in the short term.
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Despite a modest recovery in oil markets after an unprecedentedly volatile period last year, hydrocarbon-dependent emerging market governments are being warned to diversify urgently, amid estimations that a multi-trillion dollar revenue gap looms over some of the most vulnerable oil exporters. Capital markets must play a critical role in that transformation, say industry experts.
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Negotiations between the International Monetary Fund and some emerging market countries are yielding mixed results. While some sub-Saharan African sovereigns are making progress in their talks, Ukraine's long-running saga to unlock emergency funding has been unsuccessful so far.
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Syndicated lending volumes, particularly across emerging markets, have tumbled since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic last year. Though some had hopes that 2021 would yield more activity for lending desks, that optimism has been postponed to next year, as lenders say they simply cannot compete with other asset classes for business.
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Bond market participants fear that the G20 common framework for debt relief risks doing more harm than good. The warning came this week as confusion regarding the private sector’s role in Ethiopia’s proposed use of the framework dented government bonds across sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of clarity must be quickly rectified to avoid lasting contagion in African bond markets, market participants said. Mariam Meskin and Oliver West report.
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Three African issuers entered debt markets this week and raised cash at competitive levels, despite a difficult external backdrop of debt relief in the region and continued US rates weakness.
