Africa Bonds

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) sold the first Algerian dinar-linked bond from a development finance institution last week. With local market liquidity drying up because of the collapse in the price of oil, further demand for dinar assets could depend on how well the nation’s economy diversifies away from the industry.

International bondholders have formed a specialist committee to conduct negotiations with Zambia after the country announced a liability management exercise to control its debt.

The Africa Finance Corp, the Nigeria-headquartered multilateral development bank, has issued its first Eurobond of 2020, winning three times oversubscription.

Egypt’s debut green bond, which had been expected to come to market in the first half of the year, is on hold, according to sources. But although the coronavirus pandemic has impacted issuance for issuers such as Egypt, the green bond market is far from dead.

Nick Darrant, JP Morgan's head of CEEMEA debt capital markets syndicate, is leaving the bank after five years to join Citigroup as co-head of EMEA syndicate.

Emerging market bond issuance, particularly from the Middle East, has been recovering after the brutal March shocks of Covid-19 and low oil prices. Egypt took that momentum further on Thursday as it announced a triple tranche trade.

A group of investors have formed a working group to coordinate the tricky issue of debt relief in Africa, as the economic impact of Covid-19 hastens the reality.

Sappi, the South African pulp and paper company, decided just before lunchtime on Friday to cancel a €250m bond issue, judging the price it would have had to pay too high. The failure of this deal contrasts with the vigorous issuance by much riskier companies in the US market.

While emerging market bond investors are spending their days in the Covid-19 crisis battling with poor liquidity, cash calls from end investors, and even the odd new issue, debt relief has remained a threat, albeit only a vague one. But at policy level the topic is of growing importance, and what began as a matter for official institution creditors took a step closer to embroiling the private sector this week. Ross Lancaster, Phil Thornton and Oliver West report.

With emerging markets across the globe facing an overwhelming liquidity squeeze, the IMF said on Thursday that it would “look for solutions that can unlock critical financing” in countries where the unsustainability of debt prevented the fund from lending, potentially increasing funding options for the most stressed of countries.

More than 100 charities and other organisations are urging that developing countries' debt payments be cancelled this year. They have called for interest and principal payments to be withheld from public and private sector lenders.

Turkey has joined the list of emerging market countries experimenting with quantitative easing programmes in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis engulfing conventional funding markets.