Montenegro successfully raises EUR 500 million in eurobond, Finance Minister expects improvement of credit rating by end of 2018

Finance Minister Darko Radunović said that following the positive reviews by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as well as positive ratings from world's rating agencies, the international investment market also positively evaluated the activities of the Ministry of Finance and the Government of Montenegro.

"Eurobonds issuance of EUR 500 million with a 7-year maturity period received a favourable reaction. We had a demand amounting to EUR 1.482 billion, almost three times higher, which confirms the great trust in our securities. We have arranged a favourable interest rate of 3.375%. This is the lowest interest rate we have arranged on international market so far, especially given the fact that we first appeared with a seven-year maturity period. We have purchased Eurobonds that are due in 2019, 2020 and 2021 totalling EUR 362 million," said the Minister of Finance.

He added that the net effect of indebtedness by the state will be just over EUR 110 million at the moment, but on the other hand we will create the full preconditions for maintaining the public debt at that level that does not burden the public finance of Montenegro.

"This confirms that foreign investors believe in our projections. We expect that in 2020, the public debt will be below 60%, and there will also be no deficit, but will be a surplus of 4.4%. I expect that what we have done today will create conditions for improving our credit rating by the end of the year. I also expect that we will be able to create even better conditions for our structural reforms and the competitiveness of our economy," Finance Minister Darko Radunović noted in Vienna after the end of the issuance process.