YEREVAN, September 25. /ARKA/. The government of Armenia has no plans to make a new issue of USD-denominated Eurobonds, finance minister Vardan Aramyan said at a press conference on Monday. Armenia first issued $700 million worth dollar-denominated bonds in September 2013 at the yield of 6.25 percent and a maturity of 7 years.
The bulk of $700 million was used to repay a $500 million Russian loan ten years ahead of schedule. The second issue was carried out in March 2015 in the amount of $500 million with a yield of 7.25% and a maturity period of 10 years.
“At present, the yield on Armenian Eurobonds has decreased by 2% to 4.5% for the first issue and to 5.25% for the second issue, however, investors have not lost interest in them, which indicates that they are ready to buy Armenian securities even with a lower yield, and this shows the high reliability of Armenian Eurobonds,” Aramyan said.
“The government’s medium-term program does not provide for a new issue of Eurobonds. Moreover, we plan to transfer all the borrowings from the external market to the domestic one, which will allow to remove external dependence, to activate the domestic market and to stimulate the domestic economy, accentuating the domestic public debt,” Aramyan said.
The minister did not rule out the possibility that Armenia may make another issue of Eurobonds, but not earlier than in 2020. –0–
