Thailand’s finance ministry plans to issue bonds overseas to create a benchmark for the private sector and to draw foreign investors’ attention, a deputy finance minister said on Tuesday (Oct 24).

The ministry, however, has yet to decide when the bonds would be sold, by how much and in what currency, Julapun Amornvivat told reporters.

The government has to look at an appropriate cost and timeline, he said.

“There are no problems with domestic liquidity,” Julapun said, adding that issuing bonds overseas was “to test and explore the market and draw more people’s attention to Thailand”.

The government has already announced sustainability bonds worth US$2 billion that have attracted investor interest, he added.

Given higher yields, Julapun said the government’s borrowing costs rose to about 3 per cent but were still not too high, following higher interest rates in the United States and Thailand.

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A rise in the 10-year bond yield has been driven by global factors, rather than a lack of confidence in the government’s policies, he added.

The central bank’s rate hikes lately were not mainly because of inflation but to narrow the gap between US and Thai rates, which has caused capital outflows from the stock and bond markets, Julapun said. REUTERS