Public sector issuers have enjoyed a bountiful first seven months of the year — one which has proved to be more turbulent than many expected — with their bond market funding.
Borrowers started the year intending to frontload their 2026 funding programmes just as they did in 2025, if not even more so, in anticipation of heightened volatility from market-moving events like November's US mid-term elections and even the 2027 French presidential election hovering in the distance.
The unexpected outbreak of the US-Iran war at the end of February added a fresh sense of urgency for SSAs to seize every issuance opportunity available.
That has resulted in many SSAs entering the traditional summer lull 70% funded if not more. Apart from the large institutions with tens of billions to raise this year, most issuers have just one or two core currency benchmarks to print once public issuance resumes from mid-August and into the autumn.
And it could indeed prove a season of mellow fruitfulness for this group of issuers, which will be in a position to reap the harvest they so diligently sewed earlier in the year — and not only with keenly priced core currency benchmarks but by diversifying into other markets.
With the pressure off core funding, issuers will be able to focus on other projects, be they different currencies or formats, adding diversity to their funding sources. That will also present an opportunity to attract new investors and to reconnect with old ones.
There can be no doubt that frontloading benchmark funding will be a theme for early 2027 once again. That means the rest of this year presents a prime opportunity to expand the variety of crops that an issuer can grow and, with apologies to Keats, to bless with funding fruit the vines that round their thatch-eves run.