Johannesburg-The yield spread between South Africa's benchmark 2015 and 2026 bonds expanded to a record high on Thursday because of expectations of heavy supply to fund the government's budget deficit. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday forecast a wider-than-expected budget deficit for the year to March 2012 , and on Thursday, a senior Treasury official said South Africa would issue 135 billion rand of government bonds in the domestic market during the year. "Essentially, what Read more [...]

By Staff Writer The Central Bank of Tanzania, Bank of Tanzania (BoT) sold just 10 per cent of the five-year Treasury bonds on offer at a recent auction. The dismal sale, according to traders in the second largest economy in East Africa, was attributed to the weak demand largely due to lack of market liquidity. BoT had offered for sale more than Tsh40 billion of the fixed-rate bond with a coupon rate of 9.18 per cent. From the sale, it only received 28.65 billion and sold just Tsh4 billion-worth Read more [...]

By Mark Lagat Following a return to normalcy in the global markets after the global financial crisis, Senegal has announced its plans to approach the international market to raise more than $500 million. The sale for the Eurobond is set to be done in the first quarter of 2011. The development will thus replace the initial $200 million bond that was launched last year (2009). If successful, the country will join other African economies that plan to issue Eurobonds and analysts said the West Read more [...]