Romanian Govt explores ways to diversify foreign financing with Samurai, Panda bonds

The Romanian Ministry of Finance explores ways to diversify the foreign currency structure of the public debt, and for this, it is evaluating the option of selling bonds denominated in Chinese Yuans (Panda bonds, denominated in CNY) or Japanese Yens (Samurai bonds, denominated in JPY), ministry officials told Profit.ro.

Green bonds are envisaged as well, but they require some legal and institutional framework, sources said.

Romania once issued Samurai bonds in the 90s but never Panda bonds.

"We are considering issuing Panda bonds, intended for the Chinese domestic market, and Samurai, for the Japanese market. When issuing Panda and Samurai bonds, the process is complex and requires the completion of specific stages [...]. In this sense, we have started discussions with our partners (investment banks) who cover the respective markets," explained. Ștefan Nanu, director general of the Treasury and Public Debt department of the Ministry of Finance.

In 2022, the Government borrowed about RON 38 bln from foreign markets - EUR 3.85 bln and USD 2.4 bln.

For 2023, the budget deficit should be RON 68.3 bln, 4.4% of GDP. The financing requirement, which includes loans for the budget deficit (new debt) and those for rolling over the old debt that reaches payment, is forecast at RON 142.6 bln (EUR 28 mln), compared to RON 148.6 bln in 2022.

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