Albania plans to tap the international capital markets for the first time since 2015 this year with 500 million euro ($589 million) eurobond, the government said on Monday.
The issue would probably be over seven and a half years and the proceeds used to cover day-to-day funding needs and pay off an existing euro bond.
Parliament granted the government approval to issue the bond last week.
Unlike with its two previous eurobonds, Albania will be tapping the U.S. as well as European capital markets, where it raised 300 million euros in 2010 and 450 million euros in 2015.
The new bond’s joint lead managers are Citibank, Intesa Sanpaolo subsidiary IMI Bank and Societe Generale.
The government expects public debt to fall to 68.3 percent of gross domestic product at the end of 2018 from 70 percent in 2017. It has said it aims to cut the rate to 60 percent – the EU standard – in 2019.
Credit agencies Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s respectively rate Albania B+ and B1, with a stable outlook./Reuters
