Although the MTN market contracted during the first half of 2020, structured issuance rose. The bulk of the increase came in the form of notes with calls added to enhance yield.

Issuers have been flocking to the market with coronavirus response bonds, but only a few have sold MTNs with the same theme. That is changing however, and IDB Invest, the private sector investment arm of the Inter-American Development Bank is likely to be next.

TD Securities has appointed Matthew Jaconelli to head up its MTN and niche currency operations in Europe, taking over from Sameer Rehman, who will now focus on financial and corporate issuance.

Euro investors are sniffing around further out along the SSA curve, with Euratom returning after a two year absence to print a 10 year bond earmarked to fund power plant safety measures in Ukraine, while the Treasury Corp of Victoria tapped demand past the 30 year point.

The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) was set up in 2006 to provide funding to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, itself a public/private sector partnership, to expedite the vaccination of children in the poorest countries against endemic infectious diseases. Doris Herrera-Pol, IFFIm board member and former director of global capital markets at the World Bank, spoke to GlobalCapital about the role the capital markets can play in the development and deployment of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The MTN market expects a busy summer in Asia as investors look to make up for time lost to the coronavirus pandemic at the start of the year. In Europe, things are starting to slow down, however, there are signs that the credit market could open up over the coming weeks.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is considering increasing its 2020 funding programme to meet the high demand for its coronavirus response package. That could lead to the Beijing-based supranational launching a Kangaroo bond programme in the coming weeks and to it making a return to the dollar market later this year.

The International Finance Corp has announced its funding programme for its 2020-21 fiscal year.

Money market investors are beginning to feel left out of the ESG revolution sweeping capital markets. With the coronavirus pandemic bringing social concerns to the fore, the time is ripe for SSAs to show the kind of leadership they have demonstrated in the bond markets.

Social commercial paper could be on its way to the SSA market, with several issuers telling GlobalCapital that investors are interested in the product. However, some are sceptical that themed debt will work in CP format.

With SSA issuers' programmes rising to accommodate their responses to the coronavirus pandemic, the volume of deals transacted in niche currencies is closing in on a record high. With offshore interest in local currency deals healthy, however, many major banks are missing out on a busy and increasingly active market.

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.