Frontier Debt Shines as Unlikely Haven in World of Rising Rates
- Duration of frontier bonds is less than traditional EM peers
- Africa seen as most attractive region due to commodity exports
Photographer: Patricia Monteiro/Bloomberg
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As the hunt for investments that can withstand rising interest rates gathers pace, frontier assets are gaining popularity over their larger emerging-market peers.
The bonds of the world’s least-developed economies have returned 2.6% this year, keeping pace with their 2020 performance, while higher-ranked emerging-market debt has lost almost 2%, reversing some of last year’s 5.3% advance, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. indexes.