As Ivory Coast prepares to sell sub-Saharan Africa’s first Eurobond of 2015, the strengthening dollar risks curbing issuance across the continent as debt payments for governments grow more expensive.
Sales will probably decline from last year’s record $16 billion as issuers fret about exchange rates amid the drag placed on local economies by slumping oil, according to Rand Merchant Bank. Last year, Ghana, Zambia, Ethiopia and Kenya were among countries that took advantage of all-time low borrowing costs in dollars to fund infrastructure from roads to power projects.
