The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) launched its maiden international bond this Thursday, two sources said, targeting investors with five-year and 10-year notes as the resource-rich nation takes \u200cadvantage of its key role in the global critical minerals market and closer ties with the United States (US).<\/p>\n
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While the final size has not been confirmed, the Central African country has previously said it looked to raise $750 million initially as part of a broader $1.5 billion Eurobond program announced earlier this year. Proceeds are earmarked for infrastructure development, \u2060the central bank told Reuters<\/em> in January.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both bonds are senior unsecured and amortizing or paid back over a number of years. Indicative yields for the bond maturing in 2032 were around 9.125% and for the 2037 issue at around 10%.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The bond sale comes amid heightened global interest in its vast reserves of minerals essential for the energy transition, as the US and allies seek to diversify supply chains away from China.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adding to the momentum was a “positive” credit rating outlook from S&P Global Ratings in January, citing robust economic growth prospects and \u200cimprovements \u2060in foreign reserves and tax collection.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bond sales across emerging markets soared to a record high at the start of the year, though issuance ground to a halt when the turmoil around the Iran war sharply lifted energy prices and stoked fears of rising inflation and higher global borrowing costs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, conditions \u2060in international capital markets improved earlier this week after Washington agreed to a provisional two-week ceasefire with Tehran.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meanwhile, key domestic risks also persist for the cobalt and copper producer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In its base offering circular published Wednesday, \u2060the DRC underscored vulnerabilities tied to its heavy reliance on mining exports, ongoing instability in its conflict-ridden eastern regions, and dependence on concessional financing, which still accounts for 97% \u2060of its external debt.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sporadic fighting with Rwanda-backed rebels, volatile commodity prices and infrastructure bottlenecks could also weigh on fiscal resilience, while dependence on major trade partners like China introduces economic concentration risks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n –Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12548,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-31228","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"DRC launched its maiden international bond this Thursday","published_date":"2026-04-09 15:01:04","news_description":"DRC launched its maiden international bond this Thursday","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31229,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31228\/revisions\/31229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}