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Weekly Lists
September 7, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 28
bne:Credit Turkey’s Akbank
expecting to sign loan refinancing amid country’s deepening financial crisis
Belarus paves way for Panda bond placement
Akbank is expecting to sign a loan refinancing in late September, as Turkey’s deepening financial crisis hampers banks’ attempts to refinance $6.4bn of syndicated loans before the end of the year.
The new loan will replace a $930m equivalent one-year loan which matures at the end of September, the bank said in an emailed statement, reported Reuters.
Akbank’s loan refinancing was launched in early August, along with deals for Turk Ekonomi Bankasi and Turk Eximbank, but the deals have been delayed by Turkey’s financial crisis.
Akbank signed a $1.15bn deal on August 15 last year, which also in- cluded a US$205m two year tranche, but the deal was not executed until September, the bank said.
Chinese rating agency China Chengxin International Credit Rating (CCXI) has assigned Belarus with AA+ national scale sovereign credit rating with a stable outlook, and BBg global scale sovereign rating, the finance ministry in Minsk said in a statement on September 3.
"The credit rating is obtained as a part of preparation for issuing government bonds of Belarus on the domestic market of China," the statement reads.
Belarus is still considering a possible placement of $500mn bonds on the Chinese market. The funding will help Minsk to support the level of its foreign reserves amid a new financial and trade conflict with Russia. Minsk faces significant external debt payments, while Russia is threatening to suspend the allocation of new tranches from $2bn support package agreed between Minsk and the Russia-led Eurasian Fund for Stabilisation and Development (EFSD) in 2016.
Poland’s Monetary Policy Council left interest rates at their current record low of 1.5% on September 5, hinting there is very little that could change the dovish policy and outlook this year and the next.
The combination of fast economic growth with only moderate in- flation – which to the bafflement of economists has been largely unaffected by fast-rising wages so far – provides no premises for a change in monetary policy, the NBP governor and chairman of the MPC Adam Glapinski said, repeating his message from many previous meetings. Rates are currently likely to remain unchanged until the end of 2019, Glapinski added.
Polish rate setters leave rates unchanged as dovish rhetoric continues to prevail