, Columnist
The Emerging-Markets Debt Time Bomb
Investors pile in for yield but ratchet up the systemic risk.
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The explosion of debt in troubled developing countries like Brazil may be a problem at some point in the future. For now, investors are stepping over one another to buy more of such bonds.
They're so eager for a chance to lend to Brazil in particular that the nation is about to sell at least $500 million of notes maturing in 2047 to international investors, Bloomberg News reporter Paula Sambo wrote on Thursday. This is a smart move on Brazil's part -- the nation is all the rage among investors right now, with its government debt gaining 21 percent so far this year, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show, and yields falling to near the lowest since 2015.