Social Debt Surges to Record as Borrowers Tackle Coronavirus
- Global sales jumped by 376% in the first half of the year
- ‘Groundswell’ of interest from companies to issue the debt
Sales of debt for projects aimed at helping society surged to a record in the first half of the year as governments, supranational entities and companies boosted borrowing to get through the pandemic.
Photographer: Go Nakamura/Getty Images North AmericaSales of debt for projects aimed at helping society surged to a record in the first half of the year as governments, supranational entities and companies boosted borrowing to get through the pandemic.
Issuance across the globe amounted to $41.9 billion, a 376% jump from the same period a year ago, driven by large sales from issuers like French unemployment insurance management body Unédic Asseo, the Republic of Korea and the African Development Bank, according to a new report by BloombergNEF. The sale of green bonds -- a separate category of sustainable debt that’s the largest by dollar volume -- fell 8% to $119.6 billion in the period.