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Good prospects for floating Belarusian eurobonds to earn $1bn in 2020

MINSK, 9 July (BelTA) – The Belarusian Finance Ministry does not see any problems with the possible floatation of eurobonds to the tune of $1 billion in 2020. Belarusian Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Belkovets made the relevant statement at the Fitch Ratings conference “Belarus in 2019: Review of the macroeconomic situation and the banking sector” on 9 July, BelTA has learned.

The official said: “Today we see very good demand, this is why floating eurobonds to the tune of $1 billion will not be a problem. We have experience of floating to the tune of $1.4 billion [in 2017]. $1 billion is not the kind of money market players can start asking questions about or have doubts about sufficient resources for honoring the commitments.”

Belarus’ foreign debt commitments will be $3.5 billion in 2020. The sum required to pay off the state debt stands at $2.5 billion. “We intend to refinance about 75%. In our opinion, eurobonds may be the main source,” Andrei Belkovets noted.

The deputy finance minister pointed out that the cost of borrowing on the eurobonds market is now lower for Belarus. While in 2011 Belarus had to float eurobonds with the maturity period of seven years and the interest rate of 8.95%, in February 2018 the maturity period was 12 years, with the interest rate down to 6.2%.

“We see demand. Investors have an appetite for Belarusian risks. The number of investors willing to buy our bonds is several times higher than it was two years ago. For us work on foreign markets is becoming a pleasant event since we no longer have to convince investors. On the contrary, we can choose where and when we can float the bonds,” Andrei Belkovets added.

BelTA earlier quoted Belarusian Finance Minister Maksim Yermolovich as saying that Belarus may need to float eurobonds in H2 2020 at the earliest.

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