$1billion sovereign
bond oversubscribed

Rates at 6.65 and seven percent

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) issued a dual tranche bond worth $1billion to replace bonds maturing in April and May.

The bond consists of a tranche of $700 million maturing in 2024 and paying a yield of 6.65 percent. The other tranche, valued at $300 million, matures in 2031 and generates a yield of 7.00 percent.

The offering was oversubscribed, with demand reaching 128 percent of the required amount.
The yields on the new bond are close in value to current interest rates in secondary markets, the MoF said.

Parliament has given the go-ahead to the MoF to issue bonds worth $3 billion in 2016, as the country has to finance its current fiscal deficit. Lebanon’s public debt has escalated to more than $70 billion or 139 of GDP from $58 billion in 2012. About 87 percent of the public debt is funded locally by banks, the Central Bank, and entities such as the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), as well as by individual and corporate investors.