KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government has issued the first-ever Jamaican Dollar (J$) linked international bond for J$46.6 billion or US$300 million, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
It said the November 3 issue, oversubscribed 1.4 times, consists of Senior Unsecured Notes due 2030, registered with the United States-based Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
“The operation represents the inaugural J$-linked transaction for the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) in international capital markets and accomplishes the GOJ’s objective of opening local currency debt issues to international investors.
“This will help to effectively reduce the GOJ’s exposure to USD-denominated debt as interest and principal payments are linked to the value of the Jamaica dollar,” the statement said, adding that “it should be noted that while the issue is denominated in J$, debt service payments to bondholders will be in US$ determined by the average of the prevailing J$ exchange rate over the ten business days before each payment date.
“This effectively means that international investors in this bond take on Jamaican Dollar exchange rate risk,” the statement said, adding that “this bond issuance is part of the second phase of a liability management operation, where the proceeds of this Jamaican dollar-linked bond were used to buy back outstanding US$-denominated bonds.”
The statement said that the international credit rating agency, Moody’s, published an Issuer’s Comment which stated that the GOJ’s use of the J$ linked Bond issuance proceeds to buy back outstanding USD-denominated bonds will reduce “the government’s exposure to foreign-exchange risk, which is a credit positive.”
Moody’s also stated that “over time, a continued reduction in the government’s exposure to exchange-rate risk would address one of the sovereign’s key credit challenges.”
In the first phase of the transaction, Jamaica issued an invitation for Offers to Tender for Cash, its 7.625 percent Notes due 2025, 9.250 percent Notes due 2025, and 6.750 percent Notes due 2028.
The Invitation commenced on Thursday, October 19, 2023, and expired on Friday, October 27, 2023.
The statement said that the landmark offering achieved several significant milestones. It was the first J$-linked transaction by the Jamaica government, “representing the breaking of a new frontier into successful local currency deals in the international markets”.
The statement said that the international investor participation in the J$ link bond was 93.5 percent of all participants, with 6.5 percent coming from domestic investors, and that globally, this represents the most significant participation rate by international investors in a local currency issue during 2023;
“This J$ link bond represents the lowest coupon and yield for a local currency-linked global bond transaction in 2023 to date; This is the first-ever Jamaican buyback of US$ debt associated with a J$-linked new issuance, supporting the Government’s effort at de-dollarizing the national debt; and this J$ linked bond issue marks Jamaica’s first return to the international capital markets since 2019.”
Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr. Nigel Clarke, who led a Jamaican delegation on an investor roadshow in London and New York connected with the issue, said, “International bond investors investing in a J$-linked bond, and accepting J$ currency risk, would have been unimaginable only five years ago.
“This is an extremely significant transaction that opens new frontiers and offers new possibilities for Jamaica.”
Clarke said that the development represents a substantial policy dividend emanating from Jamaica’s substantially improved macro-economic fundamentals, the deepening of monetary policy transparency, and the establishment of the pursuit of low, stable, and predictable inflation as the objective of monetary policy through the law that established central bank independence.
He said the Jamaica government’s new ability to tap international investors for local currency-linked debt broadens, deepens, and diversifies the government’s funding sources while providing the opportunity to alter the national debt’s currency mix over time.
“This makes Jamaica more robust. In addition, the more significant the proportion of our national debt denominated in, or linked to, Jamaican Dollars, the stronger and more resilient Jamaica will be.
“This transaction, therefore, enhances Jamaica’s resilience and paves the way for similar international issues in the future,” Clarke added.
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