Azerbaijan to continue issuing sovereign bonds

Azerbaijan intends to continue issuing sovereign bonds in the future, Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov told.

"The bonds are not expected to be issued this year," he said, without disclosing details. He noted however that the bonds will not be issued in euros.

The debut issuing of sovereign Eurobonds in Azerbaijan was held on March 10 in the amount of $1.25 billion, with the maturity rate of 10 years.

The demand for issuing bonds exceeded its volume four-fold and attracted the attention of investors from 160 world's countries.

The U.S investors purchased about half of the issued bonds, while the UK investors acquired 25 percent of the bonds, German investors - 18 percent, and the remaining were acquired by buyers from other countries, including Singapore and Israel.

The bonds' profitability amounted to 222 basis points against the U.S. Treasuries.

The emission of the debt in Chinese yuans is a possible option for the issuance of bonds, as this currency remains highly stable in the world.

This option is backed up by the recent visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to China, as well as the Chinese currency's low volatility, which makes it logical to accumulate reserves in it.

At the same time, it is necessary to consider yuan's hard ties to the U.S. dollar, as well as potential difficulties in converting large amounts of assets in yuans, during the reserves management.

2014-06-10 / 00:00
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