Morocco to consider issuing $2 billion in bond sales

Morocco is planning to issue two sovereign bonds in September due to its increased need to rely on international market for financing, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Thursday.

The first bond is a 1 billion-euros one and the second is $1 billion. Both would have a maturity of at least five years. The Euro-denominated bond will «either roll over or be used to redeem a previous issue that matures in early October, while the dollar-denominated sale will be used to build up the North African nation’s foreign-currency reserves», the same sources said.

This amount would be double that the Kingdom was considering to issue before the Covid-19 crisis. For the record, Finance Minister Mohamed Benchaaboun announced earlier this week that Morocco would consider issuing a bond in September, but without giving details.

It is worth mentioning that Morocco is the only investment-grade issuer in Africa, hence its attractiveness for investors.