Sub-Saharan bond issuers raised a record $30.8 billion during Q3, 2018, Ecofin Agency found out from concordant documents.

This segment of the financial markets involving the subregion was particularly animated by governments that are primary issuers notably because of liquidity needs to finance budget deficits in a context marked by ever decreasing revenues.

Financial institutions ($5.7 billion) and the energy sector ($2.3 billion) also greatly contributed to that dynamic.

South Africa was the country with an undisputed high volume of issuance with $9.3 billion. It was followed by Côte d'Ivoire ($8.3 billion), Angola ($3.5 billion) and Nigeria ($2.5 billion).  

Let’s remind that the presence of Côte d'Ivoire in that list is partly due to its strong economic activity and also to interventions of the African Development Bank (AfDB) which was considered as an Ivorian issuer in the ranking because of the presence of its headquarters there.

With the tightening of borrowing conditions (for Africans) notably on the international bond market, Sub-Saharan issuers’ presence on this market should decrease. Indeed, figures from Q3, 2018 shows that from $13.1 billion in July, the zone’s issuance dropped to $7.2 billion in September.  

Idriss Linge