The Iraqi Foreign Ministry has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, which includes exempting Iraq from 75% of its debts within the support funds provided to Arab countries, scheduling the remaining amount and paying for its contributions to the budget of the General Secretariat of the […]
Tag Archives | Sovereign Debt
Understanding Iraq’s Debt
By John Lee. The Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies has just published a new report from our Expert Blogger Ahmed Tabaqchali. Entitled “Understanding Iraq’s debt: An overview of its status, outlook and origins“, the report argues that much of that debate about Iraq’s debt is out of context, mixes loosely related facts and figures […]
Tags: Ahmed Tabaqchali, Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies, Debt, Debts, featured, Sovereign Debt
Iraq plans New Bond Issue in 2018
By John Lee. Following Iraq’s successful return to the bond markets earlier this year, it is now reportedly planning a $2 billion sovereign bond issue in 2018. The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), Dr. Ali Mohsen Ismail Al-Allaq [Alak] (pictured), told Reuters that the plan is currently awaiting parliamentary approval. He added […]
Tags: bonds, Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), currency reserves, Debt, featured, forex reserves, Iraq Budget News, Iraqi Government Bonds, Sovereign Debt
Huge Demand for Iraqi Govt Bonds
By John Lee. Iraq opened the books yesterday on its first independent bond sale in a decade. “Investor demand was huge,” writese Marcus Ashworth at Bloomberg. “The deal was seven times oversubscribed.” The $1-billion, dollar-denominated bond, maturing in March 2023, was expected yield 7 percent, but demand enabled that to be cut to 6.75 percent. […]
Tags: bonds, Citibank, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, featured, Fitch, fitch ratings, Iraqi Government Bonds, JPMorgan, Sovereign Debt, Standard and Poor
Iraq to sell new USD Govt Bonds
By John Lee. The Financial Times reports that Iraq has appointed Citi, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan as joint bookrunners for a new five-year government bond. The issue is described as a dollar-denominated, long-dated, benchmark-scale bond; investor meetings scheduled over the coming days. In January, Iraq raised $1 billion of five-year bonds, guaranteed by the US, […]
Tags: bonds, Citibank, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, featured, Iraq Budget News, Iraqi Government Bonds, JP Morgan Chase, Sovereign Debt
Fitch Revises Outlook on Iraq to Stable; Affirms at ‘B-‘
Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Iraq’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Stable from Negative and affirmed the IDR at ‘B-‘. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at ‘B-‘ and the Short-Term Foreign-Currency IDR at ‘B’. KEY RATING DRIVERS The revision of the Outlook reflects the following key rating drivers: Iraq’s fiscal […]
Govt Issues $1bn Sovereign Bond with US Guarantee
Iraq has successfully closed on its offering of a $1 billion sovereign bond issuance guaranteed by the United States of America. This loan guarantee underscores the strong and enduring commitment of the United States to support the government of Iraq in this critical moment in the fight against Da’esh. As part of a comprehensive international […]
Tags: bonds, featured, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Iraq Budget News, Iraqi Government Bonds, Sovereign Debt, United States
Fitch revises Iraq’s Outlook to Negative
Fitch Ratings has revised its outlook on Iraq’s Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Negative from Stable and affirmed the IDR at ‘B-‘. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at ‘B-‘ and the Short-Term foreign currency IDR at ‘B’. KEY RATING DRIVERS The revision of the Outlook reflects the following key rating drivers: […]
Tags: bonds, featured, Fitch, fitch ratings, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Iraqi Government Bonds, Sovereign Debt, World Bank
Moody’s Withdraws Credit Rating on Planned Iraqi Bonds
By John Lee. Moody’s Investors Service has today withdrawn its provisional rating of (P)Caa1 for Government of Iraq’s planned USD bond issuance. The issuance rating has been withdrawn following statements made by Iraq’s Deputy Finance Minister that the issuance plans have been put on hold. The last rating action was in September 2015 when Moody’s […]
Iraq Seeks $500 million from Islamic Development Bank
By Simon Kent. Two days after the beginning of Iraq’s entry into the Eurobond market, in which the country hopes to raise up to $6 billion, Iraq has announced it is seeking a $500 million loan from the Jeddah based Islamic Development Bank (IDB.) However, according to a source in the Iraqi govt. the sum […]