- BBVA-covered LatAm countries’ USD-denominated debt service obligations will amount to USD1.24bn in February.
- Traditionally, February has lower than average monthly debt obligations with small amounts of payments shared across countries throughout the month. The one outlier is Mexico, which scheduled the call of its MEX 23s bonds. The total payment expected is c.USD576.9mn –the largest payment of the month. If investors decide to re-invest part of the proceeds in the Mexican bond curve, that could create some demand for MEX bonds.
- In 2022, some LatAm countries are targeting lower fiscal deficits, therefore they will have lower financing needs as well as lower expected debt issuance.
- In January 2021, the largest LatAm countries issued HC debt of USD18bn; in January 2022 issuance totaled USD12.8bn. Colombia and the Dominican Republic have been absent from the primary market; we expect them to come to the market as soon as a window of opportunity opens. We believe they could also include a tender offer with the new issuance.
- Uruguay and Peru issued bonds towards the end of 2021 in what could be seen as a pre-funding exercise. With lower financing needs, these two countries have the luxury of being more opportunistic issuers.