Tanzania seeks rating within 3 months ahead of planned Eurobond

Tanzania aims to secure credit ratings from Fitch and Moody's Investor Services in the next three months ahead of a debut Eurobond it expects to launch in the 2014/15 financial year, the finance minister said on Monday.

The east African country, which has said the bond could be worth up to $1 billion, initially planned to launch it in the financial year ending in June. It has since said it would aim for the first quarter of the next financial year.

"We have a timeframe (for the rating) of the next three months," Finance Minister Saada Salum told Reuters on the sidelines of a Tanzania investment forum. "We want to do the Eurobond in the next financial year."

She said Tanzania was seeking a rating from Fitch and Moody's. Although the government did not have an official stance, she said experts had suggested BB-plus -a sub-investment grade - as an appropriate level.

Tanzanian officials have said the bond would support new infrastructure, citing the need for new roads, railways and ports. The country is also seeking to develop new gas finds.

Since a successful Eurobond debut by another east African nation, Rwanda, last year, analysts say conditions have tightened on international debt markets, partly due to the U.S. Federal Reserve scaling back its bond-buying programme.

While that stimulus was in full swing, investors had rushed into higher-yielding emerging markets.

Tanzania's neighbour Kenya also has plans for a Eurobond. source Yahoo news

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