The ministry said the size of the Eurobond is limited by what the government is authorized to issue without new legislation. The Eurobond will have two tranches with maturities in 2015 and 2024.

The coupon rate on the 2015 maturity is projected to vary between six and 6.25 percent. The rate on the 2024 maturity is expected to be in the 7.25-7.35 percent range.

The planned Eurobond will be the second issue in 2009, as the Finance Ministry successfully completed a voluntary debt swap for around $2.3 billion of maturing Eurobonds last March, with demand reaching 82.8 percent of maturing bonds.

Proceeds of the upcoming Eurobond will be mostly earmarked towards debt service and for Treasury transfers to the money-losing state-owned Electricité du Liban. Lebanon has a total of $17.7 billion in outstanding Eurobonds, with a weighted interest rate of 7.36 percent and a weighted life of 4.76 years as of August 2009.

The bond sale should help to “ascertain the confidence of investors in the Lebanese financial system because the government extended the maturity period to 2024 within the current market rates,” said Najib Semaan, assistant general manager of BoB.