Government

The Kingdom  of Bahrain enacted a new bankruptcy law in December 2018, sweeping away its previous legislation and replacing it with a thoroughly modern toolkit. The law is a revolutionary improvement compared to what existed before, said lawyers polled by Debtwire.

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) enacted its new Insolvency Law on 30 May, introducing internationally utilised insolvency and restructuring tools to offshore DIFC jurisdiction.

With few signs that a financial fix for Turkey’s debt-laden energy sector – proposed by the government earlier this year – is any closer to materialising, concern is mounting that not enough is being done to achieve an urgently needed operational turnaround in the industry, several market participants told Debtwire.

An omnibus bill entered into force in Turkey last week, introducing long-awaited additional provisions to the country's Banking Law aimed at solving a number of technical and practical hurdles to debt restructurings.

Zambia’s government came under intense scrutiny this week as investors continued to push for clarity on the country’s growing debt stack during a call held on Wednesday (29 May).

Ukrainian bonds have had a roller-coaster week so far but have recovered to levels above last Friday’s (24 May) close, following supportive comments from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s team and a global investor call held by the country’s ministry of finance on 29 May, according to an analyst and a trader.

The Government  of Belarus could issue a Russian ruble-denominated bond in the next two months, according to a source at the country’s Ministry of Finance.

As Ukraine’s tightly contested presidential race enters its last stretch this week, policy uncertainty is expected to dominate until a very likely second round of elections in April, if not until the October parliamentary polls, market participants told Debtwire. This uncertainty spells bad news for a country reliant on external funding to make USD 20bn in sovereign and quasi-sovereign debt repayments between 2019 and 2021, they said.

Mozambique continues at the heart of a dramatic debt scandal which has left investors in wait-and-see mode, according to five market participants polled by Debtwire. The government's USD 727m 10.5% 2023 bonds have scarcely traded since January despite many enquiries, said a trader.

There was little reaction in the Republic of Kazakhstan’s Eurobonds yesterday (19 March) following a surprise resignation announcement from the country’s President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, after almost 30 years in power, according to three analysts, a trader and a political risk analyst.