ULAN BATOR, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Mongolian government has issued a bond worth 600 million U.S. dollars in the international market, the country's Finance Minister Khurelbaatar Chimed announced here Tuesday.
The annual interest rate of the "Nomad" bond is 5.125 percent and will mature in 5.5 years, Khurelbaatar told a news conference.
Four international investment banks, namely J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, HSBC and Nomura, have worked with the Mongolian Finance Ministry and the Bank of Mongolia to issue the new bond over the past three weeks, said Khurelbaatar.
"The new bond was not issued to bring more money to Mongolia. The purpose of the 'Nomad' bond is to repay 500 million U.S. dollars of a five-year 'Mazaalai' bond which will be matured in April 2021," Khurelbaatar said.
"In other words, the government has made a debt restructuring on part of the current outstanding sovereign debts by exchanging 10.8-percent 'Mazaalai' bond debts with the low-interest rate 'Nomad' bond," said the minister.
In 2016, the Mongolian government issued the "Mazaalai" bond with a rate of 10.8 percent, the highest interest rate since 2011.
In addition, with the issuance of the "Nomad" bond, the repayment of the remaining 1 billion dollars of the "Chinggis" bond has been postponed to lessen the burden on the budget, the finance minister said.
In 2012, the Mongolian government issued the "Chinggis" bond worth 1.5 billion dollars with a rate of 5.125 percent, with a condition to repay 500 million dollars in 2018 and the remaining 1 billion dollars in 2022. Enditem
