DUBAI: Bahrain’s government is talking to banks about conducting a benchmark-sized sale of eurobonds later this year, a banking source with knowledge of the plan said on Monday.
The international sale would occur sometime after this summer, the source told Reuters, declining to be named under briefing rules. Bahrain’s central bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Benchmark-sized usually means at least $500 million. Bahrain has been borrowing domestically and abroad to finance a budget deficit caused by low oil prices.
In February, Bahrain cancelled a $750 million sovereign bond sale after Standard & Poor’s cut the Gulf Arab kingdom’s credit rating to junk status. Later in the month, however, Bahrain succeeded in selling $600 million of international bonds. In May, it privately placed a $435 million, three-year sukuk issue.
