Business
Jamaica to sell dollar bond to diaspora
(Reuters) – Jamaica is planning a dollar bond targeted at its diaspora community, the country’s investment minister said on Thursday.
“We think a diaspora bond is do-able,” Anthony Hylton, Jamaica’s industry, investment and commerce minister, told Reuters on the sidelines of a Jamaica investment forum.
“We are working with the World Bank in devising it.”
Hylton said Jamaica hoped to launch the bond in August, to coincide with the London Olympics, at which the Jamaican athletics team is expected to do well, and with Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of independence.
The bond, which could total up to US$1 billion but is likely to be smaller, would not increase Jamaica’s overall debts, already equivalent to 126 percent of GDP, Hylton said.
Instead, the government hopes to use proceeds from the sale, which Hylton said would be available in smaller denominations than a conventional Eurobond, to refinance more expensive debt. Jamaica has a 200 million euro bond maturing later this year.
“We know the Jamaican diaspora has substantial invest-able funds, close to US$5 billion. We are not looking for more debt, we are looking to make space,” he added.
Countries such as Lebanon have successfully sold bonds in the past to their citizens living overseas, who typically charge less than international investors to lend to their home states.
