* Five new bonds to be issued in next few days
* More frequent switch auctions meant to hurry programme
along
By Xola Potelwa
JOHANNESBURG, June 5 (Reuters) – South Africa may issue five
new bonds as early as this week, helping to plug a 10-year
benchmark gap and extend the government yield curve by a further
seven years, a top Treasury official said on Tuesday.
There is strong and growing demand from international
investors for bonds in Africa’s largest economy and biggest debt
market, with some analysts even seeing it as a relatively safe
haven during the euro zone’s debt crisis.
South Africa’s market is liquid, offers an established yield
curve, and high returns, traders say, with the added attraction
of being promoted into a major bond index recently.
The 20-year benchmark bond is now offering 8.8
percent yield compared to its Mexico counterpart at 7 percent
.
The five new bonds were first announced in the February
budget but the Treasury has kept quiet since then and has taken
longer than expected to come out with the issues.
However, Monale Ratsoma, the Treasury’s head of borrowing,
said the bonds could come any day now as the department was only
waiting for the completion of listing paperwork at the
Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
Continued…
