UPDATE 1-El Salvador Bukele election win lifts dollar bonds to 1-yr high

  • 3/2/2021
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(Adds analysts, background, details) LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - El Salvador sovereign dollar bonds jumped as much as 1 cent, with many issues trading at their highest in a year on Tuesday after President Nayib Bukele declared a major victory in legislative elections. Longer-dated issues chalked up the biggest gains, with the 2032 and the 2052 issues adding 1 cent on the dollar to trade around 102.7 cents and 107.5 cents respectively, Refinitiv data showed. Bukele cited projections that his party and allies won more than two-thirds of seats in what would be the biggest majority in the history of the nation’s Congress. “Such a majority gives President Bukele and his team the power to approve budgets with external debt, including signing on to an IMF (International Monetary Fund) program, confirmation of which the market will now be eagerly waiting for,” said Nathalie Marshik, head of EM sovereign research at Stifel. Despite the bond uplift, funding stresses could soon come to the fore again, with the government facing the amortization of around $328 million of Letes, or treasury bills, in March, according to analysts. El Salvador’s economic recovery has been one of the most lacklustre in the region. Siobhan Morden, head of Latin America fixed income strategy at Amherst Pierpont Securities, said El Salvador had few financing alternatives and striking a deal with the Fund could help lower borrowing costs. “This then requires access to capital markets for near term funding needs with an IMF announcement possibly lowering local funding rates but more importantly opening Eurobond markets,” she said in a note to clients. (Reporting by Karin Strohecker; Editing by Tom Arnold and Rosalba O’Brien)

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