Debts issued by the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) States and companies in the first half of 2016 amount to $6.9 billion, thus 10% down compared to the first half of 2015. This was revealed by data released on July 18 by Thomson Reuters and Freeman Consulting.

Benefiting from extremely low interest rates and investors’ growing appetite for debt securities of emerging economies, Sub-Saharan African nations and firms borrowed massively on international and local markets over the past years. However, the perspective of an increase in US interest rates, slowdown of local economies and grim projections for commodity prices caused last year these states and firms to be less incline to issue bonds.

From January 1, 2016 to June 2016, Cote d’Ivoire, with $4.1 billion, was the largest issuer of debt securities in the sub Saharan region. It totaled 59% of overall issued debts. WAEMU’s (West African Economic and Monetary Union) driver is followed by South Africa which gathered 31% of overall issuances in the region, $2.1 billion.

Thomson Reuters also said that merger-acquisition transactions targeting SSA firms in the first half of 2016, dropped by 27% to $12.8bn.

As for commissions collected by investment banks in the region, they decreased by 22% over the first six months of the year, to $173.9 million.