Times of Oman
BUSINESS
BY
BLOOMBERG NEWS
London: Morocco sold its first euro-denominated bonds in four years after yields fell to all-time lows and stimulus measures in Europe help boost demand for riskier assets.
The government issued one billion euros ($1.4 billion) of 10-year bonds at 215 basis points above midswaps, the country’s Economy and Finance Minister Mohamed Boussaid said in an interview on Friday.
The yield on Morocco’s October 2020 debt has dropped 124 basis points year to 3.06 per cent, within five basis points of record low on May 30.
The North African country joins Emirates Telecommunications and Turkiye Vakiflar Bankasi in tapping international markets after the European Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates last week.
The ECB took its deposit rate negative, helping demand for higher-yielding assets.
“European Central Bank actions are definitely positive for the market,” Will Nef, who helps manage $3 billion in emerging-market bonds at Union Bancaire Privee in Zurich, said by e-mail. “215 basis points looks relatively generous. People are chasing anything that is yielding something given that developed rates in euros have come off so much.”
