Cut in Ivory Coast’s Local Debt Target Raises Eurobond Prospects

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast cut its forecast for debt sales in West Africa’s regional market this year, raising the likelihood of a larger Eurobond issuance to fund its budget.

The world’s top cocoa producer plans to reduce its local-currency issuance in the eight-member West African Economic and Monetary Union by almost a third from last year, according to Agence UMOA-Titres, the bloc’s debt agency. That will leave the nation with a balance of 838 billion CFA francs ($1.5 billion) in debt that will be sold elsewhere.

The country was planning to sell at least $1 billion in Eurobonds this year, depending on the amount of debt in can sell on the regional market, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month.

Ivory Coast’s target for regional sales is 609 billion francs, according to UMOA-Titres. The overall budgetary debt requirement amounts to 1.45 trillion francs.

Source: Bloomberg Business News