Indonesia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania and Hong Kong were some of the fastest countries to come to market, helping sovereigns sell $21.3 billion worth of debt, up from $13.4 billion in the first week of 2022, according to Morgan Stanley analysts.
Another $6.5 billion came from emerging market companies, bringing the combined figure of $28 billion well above the total of $19 billion in the first week of last year and the previous record of $24 billion from 2021.
Rising global interest rates meant sovereign debt issuance halved to a more than a decade low of $87 billion last year. The figure contrasts with $176 billion in 2021 and roughly $230 billion in 2020, when governments borrowed record amounts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Combined with markedly lower corporate debt issuance, last year’s grand total was just over $300 billion. That was also less than half of the $713 billion in 2021, according to Morgan Stanley’s calculations, and also the lowest amount since 2021.