JOHANNESBURG – South Africa has issued its first infrastructure and development finance bonds, raising 11.795 billion rand ($692.74 million) via 10-year and 15-year instruments, its National Treasury said on Tuesday.
Bids exceeded 26 billion rand, with the issuance achieving a 2.2 times subscription rate, the Treasury said in a statement.
The government hopes the projects funded by the bond sale will help drive higher economic growth and improve service delivery.
The bonds are part of a broader plan to allocate over 1 trillion rand to public infrastructure over the next three years in Africa’s biggest economy.
The Treasury said it raised 6.996 billion rand via the 10-year bond an interest rate of 8.575%, and 4.799 billion rand via the 15-year bond at an interest rate of 9.13%.
Potential projects that could be funded by them include the redevelopment of the Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, a major water pipeline in Limpopo province and upgrades to state freight rail company Transnet’s coal and iron ore export lines.
In a separate deal last week South Africa raised $3.5 billion by
issuing two new dollar bonds
on international capital markets.
($1 = 17.0266 rand)