EU Issued Its First Issues Of Social Bonds Last Week
The European Union (EU) issued its first issues of social bonds last week, with demand for them at record levels.
The European Commission, which issued EU joint bonds, has already seen record global interest at the start of the joint debt to finance reconstruction following the corona crisis.
These were issues of two bonds, 10- and 20-year bonds, with a total value of 17 billion euros. Demand at € 233 billion outpaced supply almost 14 times.
Will there be such interest in others?
These were the first issues of so-called social bonds, which launched the financing of the SURE program to support employment in emergency situations.
Social bonds are among the so-called sustainable bonds, this segment of the bond market is currently experiencing rapid growth, with the EU offering the largest issue so far. The reasons for the interest in such bonds are the global climate crisis and the pandemic of the new coronavirus.
According to experts, the question now is whether there will be similarly high interest in other common EU bonds, which has an ambitious plan to increase its debt 15-fold in less than a decade. The reason is the funding of programs to help Member States battling the corona crisis.
The European Union, which has so far been only a small debtor at the level of Slovakia, will thus become one of the largest issuers of debt.
Good start
The European Commission plans to issue bonds worth up to 850 billion euros by 2026, making it one of the strongest players in the capital market.In the event of a similarly strong interest in conventional and green bonds, which the European Commission will start issuing from next year, EU bonds are likely to eventually become a global competitor to US government bonds.Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) portfolio manager Konstantin Veit called Wednesday's issues a "good start" to issuing the EU's common debt in the coming years.With this week's emissions, the EU has secured funding for almost a fifth of the € 100 billion pandemic employment program.