Jordan preparing for $1b Eurobond issuance

AMMAN — Jordan will issue a $1 billion Eurobond on international markets in October of this year, Minister of Finance Omar Malhas said Sunday.

Jordan is seeking a tenor of 10 and possibly 30 years for the bond, Malhas told The Jordan Times Sunday.

 J.P. Morgan and City Bank were hired to manage the issuance, the minister added.

"Currently, teams from the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Jordan are on a road show for this specific reason before the issuance," Malhas said. 

Eurobond is sought to refinance maturing debt and other budget requirements within the approved debt limits of the budget, Malhas stressed.

In April 2017, Jordan successfully issued $500-million worth of Eurobonds on international markets. The bond was sold with a yield rate of 5.875 per cent.

The bond, whose maturity date is in 2026, was more than three times oversubscribed with demand exceeding $1.7 million.

According to official figures by the ministry, Jordan’s total public debt has dropped by 0.7 per cent during the first half of 2017.

The debt reached JD26.472 billion at the end of June 2017, accounting for 94.4 per cent of the GDP compared to 95.1 per cent at the end of 2016.

As for the net public debt, it increased by JD941.8 million at the end of June, compared to the end of last year, as a result of financing the deficit of the general budget and the government-guaranteed loans of the National Electricity Company and the Water Authority.