The issue was three times oversubscribed, according to bankers. It highly attracted investors and mainly local banks, they said.

Local banks Blom and Fransabank and international bank, BNP Paribas were mandated to manage the sale of the new Eurobonds which will have a yield of 6.5 percent.

Economist Marwan Iskandar said that issuing new Eurobonds to investors is the only procedure that the government can currently tap to repay older maturing bonds. He said that the huge interest in subscribing to the new Eurobonds from local banks demonstartes their "need to invest their liquidity surplus."

Economist Elie Yachoui said that the new issue is one of “the usual operations that the government has done in the past to cover debt payments maturing.”

Around $2.15 billion of outstanding Eurobonds mature this year.