MEFMI delivers a course on International Sovereign Bonds Issuance in Portuguese

MEFMI delivered an e-learning course on International Sovereign Bond Issuance from 17 August to 2 October 2020. The course was offered in Portuguese as part of efforts to address the language barrier faced by Lusophone countries (Angola and Mozambique) that are in the MEFMI region. A total of 19 officials, drawn from Central Banks and Ministries of Economy, Finance and Planning in the two countries, participated in the course.

The main objective of the course was to address the knowledge gap on international sovereign bond issuance, and introduce participants to the theoretical and practical aspects related to issuing sovereign bonds in the international capital markets.

The course comprised five (5) modules, namely: Introduction to Eurobonds, Preparing for a New Eurobond Issuance, Regulations and Eurobond Documentation, Execution of Eurobond Transactions, and Post-Issuance Activities and Strategies. In addition, participants completed, weekly quizzes aimed at assessing their grasp of the concepts covered in each module. In the fourth week, participants had a webinar discussion on the experience of Brazil in issuing bonds in the international capital markets. This gave the participants an opportunity to learn practical aspects of the issuance process. In the fifth week, participants analysed a case study to reinforce their understanding of issues covered throughout the course.

MEFMI expects that the knowledge and skills gained from this course will help participants to inform strategic and operational decisions when tapping the international capital markets, and prepare adequately in order to succeed with Eurobond issuances, as well as adopt adequate strategies to monitor markets and manage debt service.

MEFMI intends to offer this course again to allow more officials from the two countries to be trained. This is justified by the high response from these countries to MEFMI’s call for nominations, combined with the fact that not all the registered participants completed the course due to the disruptions caused by COVID-19.

The course mentors were Mrs Marcia Tapajós, a Debt Management Expert from Brazil and Ms. Cristina Dimande of the MEFMI Secretariat.

Prepared by Cristina Dimande