MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay plans to sell 1 billion US dollars of bonds next year

Uruguay plans to sell about 1 billion US dollars of bonds next year, including 500 million of dollar- denominated debt, said Carlos Steneri, director of public credit at the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The dollar-denominated bonds may have a maturity of 20 years or more, Steneri said at a LatinFinance conference in London this week. Uruguay is seeking to create a benchmark bond “at the long end of the curve” and already has enough financing for 2010, Steneri said.

“Next year, total issuance should be around 1 billion USD in domestic and international markets,” Steneri said. “But if we need more financing, we’ll try to tap the domestic market. We’re quite opportunistic, we’re not being pressured for funding; we’re just tapping the market when it’s quite cheap”.

Uruguay raised its 2010 economic growth forecast last month to 5.1% from 4% and said it will focus on health programs, security and infrastructure to maintain annual expansion of at least 4%. GDP grew 2.9% in 2009. Uruguay sold 500 million USD of bonds maturing in 2025 in October, its first dollar debt issuance in three years.

The country won’t consider selling bonds in Euros because that market is “exotic” and “volatile,” Steneri said. The dollar debt sale could come as early as this year if market conditions are right, he said.

“If in two months’ time somebody says you have a good chance of tapping the market for 500 million USD in a very cheap way, OK, we’ll do it,” he said. “This is like fishing. You have to fish when there are fish there.”