Samir Sharifov, the Azerbaijan Finances Minister, informed Trend that the Azerbaijan Ministry of Finances is eager to intensify the work in the direction of issue of sovereign euro-bonds in connection with the issue of new rating by Fitch Ratings. The Agency issued Azerbaijan with Р'Р'+ rating, which is less than the investment rating by point.
We are satisfied with the result, though we hoped for issue of higher rating. Now the country holds two ratings and it enables to work over issue of euro-bonds, the Minister said. The Minister said that after the development of a package of tender bids is planned, tender will be announced on organization of issue of euro-bonds, which is a difficult process. The international rating agencies Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poors, as well as City Group, are consultants to the country in attraction of the second rating agency. 20 more banks, including Commerz Bank, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro, and JP Morgan company offered their assistance to the government.
The presidential decree on adoption of the fulfillment of 2007 public budget envisages issue of euro-bonds in the amount of 249mln manats. In compliance with the initial terms, the euro-bonds will be issued for 5 years with rate of up to 5%.
Banks cooperating with Azerbaijan offer to carry out issue of euro-bonds in three stages. Firstly, it is planned to develop the license, secondly, study conditions in the world markets and thirdly, train specialists working with bonds.