Middle East

An imminent bond issue from Turkey is looking unlikely, investors say, after the abrupt sacking on Saturday of Naci Ağbal, governor of the central bank, just a day after he had raised interest rates by 200bp. Both hard and local currency bonds have sold off and market participants fear a balance of payments crisis.

A wave of central bank rate hikes across emerging markets over the last week, particularly in CEEMEA, has stimulated investor confidence amid a volatile period in global markets. The recent rise in US Treasury yields had threatened to pull money away from EM, with a further risk of weakening local currencies.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has brought relief to emerging market investors by exceeding market participants’ expectations and delivering a 200bp rate hike.

Despite the disruption that the coronavirus pandemic and, more recently, volatility in global markets have brought to emerging market debt, issuers in the CEEMEA region are not backing away from their pivot towards ESG financing. Though concerns about greenwashing are holding the market back, new sustainability-linked and transition structures are tempting issuers.

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.

Volatility in global and commodity markets coupled with regulatory challenges are putting pressure on issuers and investors involved in the Sharia-compliant financing market.

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Turkey's international bond market access is once again in question. Rising US Treasury yields have put affordable dollar funding beyond the sovereign for now, bankers believe, undoing the good done by a move back to orthodox monetary policy late last year, after months of inflation and a plunging lira. A rate hike next week may help restore issuance prospects, writes Mariam Meskin.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, has signed a $15bn multi-currency revolving credit facility with a syndicate of 17 international banks. Loan market conditions, participants said, are still attractive for borrowers, despite a drought of deals over the last year.

Oman's Bank Muscat this week returned to debt markets after a brief hiatus to sell a dollar bond. The deal was one of only a few across CEEMEA this week, as market participants say interest rate volatility is still deterring issuance.

Turkish lender Akbank is in the syndicated loan market with its debut ESG deal, according to sources. The bank has been able to tighten pricing on the refinancing, meaning that it has enough competitively priced funding for it not to need to come to the bond market.

Rosatom, the Russian nuclear power company, is using a $300m sustainability-linked loan for part of the financing of Akkuyu, the first nuclear power plant to be built in Turkey — a sign of how fast and far the concept of sustainability-linked finance is spreading.