Emerging-Market Funding Gets Creative as Dollar Bonds Dry Up
- Debt-for-nature deals, loan syndication become popular routes
- Local-currency bond sales surge as high rates lure investors
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A road runs through a dense area of primary forest in Nyanga, Gabon.Photographer: Guillem Sartorio/Bloomberg
By Selcuk Gokoluk and Colleen Goko
August 27, 2023 at 8:00 PM GMT+8
At the BRICS summit in Johannesburg this week, a key item on the agenda was reducing dollar dependence across emerging markets. In bond sales, it’s already happening.
The sale of dollar bonds from developing countries sunk to the lowest since 2021 in August as global yields spiked to multi-year highs and 15 emerging nations traded at distressed levels. Only $1.4 billion has been raised in emerging debt this month, compared with $4.5 billion in August 2022 and average monthly sales of $15.4 billion this year.