Money flooding into South Africa

South Africa raised $1.1 billion from a sale of new bonds, which saw strong demand at its weekly auction.

The National Treasury introduced two fixed-rate securities maturing in 2033 and 2038, as well as notes maturing in 2053.

Primary dealers placed orders for 19.02 billion of debt, more than five times the R3.75 billion of securities on sale.

According to central bank data compiled by Bloomberg, this compares with a ratio of 2.5 at the previous auction.

The yield on South Africa’s benchmark notes, local-currency bonds due in 2035, traded at 10.4%, near the lowest levels since April 2022.

The country’s bonds have been the best performing in emerging markets this year, handing investors a return of 16.4% in dollar terms.

That compares with the 3.5% average gain for peers in a Bloomberg EM Local Government Bond Index.

The National Treasury has signalled that its domestic borrowing strategy for the fiscal year will focus on lengthening the maturity profile of its debt and managing refinancing risks while maintaining steady issuance to meet budgetary needs.

This approach comes amid increased borrowing requirements due to sluggish economic growth and pressures to finance social and infrastructure programs.

The Treasury’s medium-term strategy also aims to reduce reliance on short-term instruments by shifting to longer-term fixed-rate bonds, ensuring sustainable debt servicing costs as the nation grapples with a persistent budget deficit.