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Weekly Lists
June 29, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 26
bne:Credit
Interest in Republika Srpska's debut Eurobond disappoints
Bosnia & Herzegovina’s smaller entity Republika Srpska placed its first Eurobond on the Vienna Stock Exchange on June 21, however, it did not succeed in selling the whole €200mn issue, a statement on the government’s website showed on June 22. The bond will be listed on the Vienna bourse.
The government decided to place the bond in May, claiming that the capacity of the domestic market is limited and the entity needs to raise funds on international markets. However, it only managed to get away bonds worth €168mn on June 21, which were sold at an annual interest rate of 4.75%.
While other frontier markets across the CEE/CIS region, including notably Tajikistan, have successfully issued international bonds, Republika Srpska’s offering came as emerging markets are increasingly out of fashion, and amid warnings of mounting debt in the entity coupled with political instability in Bosnia.
The Czech National Bank (CNB) raised the main interest rate by 0.25 percentage points (pp) to 1% at the policy-setting meeting on June 27. The six bank board members present voted unanimously in favour of the move while one member was absent.
The rate last stood at 1% between December 2009 and May 2010. The decision surprised the market, even though Czech analysts anticipated this move. “The interest hike was predicted according to Bloomberg consensus only by six analysts out of 20,” said ING chief economist Jakub Seidler.
The decision was made due to the weaker koruna and inflation- ary pressures stemming from the overheating labour market and strong growth of wages, Seidler said.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $300mn policy- based loan to help improve economic management in Uzbekistan, the bank said in a statement on June 27.
The funding aims to “help support macroeconomic stability and sustain high growth in the country”, the statement added. Specifi- cally, it aims to improve the governance of state owned companies, fiscal sustainability and access to bank finance. The programme will strengthen bank supervision and intermediation to facilitate competitive financing of private sector operations.
Czech National Bank raises key interest rate by 0.25 pp to 1% to prop up koruna
ADB to provide $300mn policy-based loan to Uzbekistan