Mongolia

China has relaxed access to the onshore renminbi (CNY) foreign exchange market for overseas banks based in Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Thailand, all countries that fall under the Belt and Road initiative, GlobalRMB has learned.

Mongolia proved this week that it has gone some way to shaking off the twin stigmas of political uncertainty and reliance on commodity income by pulling off a liability management exercise, the new debt portion of which attracted $5.5bn of orders. Addison Gong reports.

The Government of Mongolia, rated Caa1/B-/B-, has released initial price guidance for a new 2023 bond, part of a liability management exercise aimed at extending the borrower's maturity curve.

It is barely six months since Mongolia pulled off a daring debt exchange after the country’s finances — and its credit rating — fell into disrepair. But the new government is now planning a full return to the debt market, having picked three global banks to help ease a passage to the market.

Mongolia’s macho new prime minister Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh is taking the reins of a country that has suffered from excessive debt, a woeful credit rating and a corruption scandal which felled his predecessor. But despite the country’s struggles, his best policy approach may be simply to maintain the current course.

The People’s Bank of China scraps the requirement for financial institutions to set aside cash as reserves when buying foreign currency forwards, KraneShares launches new ETF to track companies in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects, and Bridgewater is said to be starting a new investment fund in China.

Bank of China and China Construction Bank have picked new chairmen, BOC’s asset management arm received its first batch of qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) quotas, and the Ministry of Finance published new guidelines to restrict foreign investments by state-owned enterprises.

China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) says the country will not devalue the renminbi, Hong Kong’s renminbi deposits fall in May, and China welcomes Japan to participate in One Belt One Road (OBOR).

Mongolia has managed to escape from the brink of default with a hugely popular $600m new money plus exchange offering, as investors took heart from the recent bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

The leads working on the government of Mongolia’s keenly-watched dollar bond have opened books, guiding investors towards a seven year deal at the 8.25% area.

Things kicked off with a weaker dollar fix by PBoC, while China’s banking authority got a new chairman last week, and the securities regulator said it will increase foreign ownership limits for China brokerage ventures.

Mongolia has mandated banks for a new dollar deal to be issued in part to fund an exchange offer for the Development Bank of Mongolia’s bonds maturing next month. The announcement comes just after the International Monetary Fund agreed to a $5.5bn bailout for the debt ridden country.