Trinidad and Tobago plans bond issue

Trinidad: Trinidad and Tobago is planning its first global bond sale since 2007 as the Caribbean nation's economy is poised to expand for the first time in three years, Finance Minister Winston Dookeran said.

The country is seeking to sell as much as $500 million (Dh1.8 billion) in bonds abroad by the end of September, Dookeran said in an interview in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he is attending the annual meetings of the Inter-American Development Bank. The bonds would likely mature in ten years and be used to help fund spending in the 2013 fiscal year, he said.

"This would be financing for the capital side of the next fiscal year," Dookeran said. Trinidad's 9.75 per cent dollar bonds maturing in 2020 yield 3.76 per cent, down from 4.78 per cent a year ago.