Colombia has abandoned plans to sell $240 million in international bonds this year over concerns that “wild” market conditions raise the risk of borrowing abroad, Finance Minister Juan Carlos Echeverry told Bloomberg news agency.
According to Bloomberg, Colombia planned to raise the additional amount after selling $2 billion of 10-year dollar bonds in July and has said it could issue yen-denominated bonds in Asia in the second half of the year. Under its 2011 financing plan, Colombia planned to raise $2.24 billion in debt sales abroad, the news agency said.
“We don’t like wild waters,” Echeverry said in a Saturday interview with Bloomberg in Washington. “We were lucky and very successful when we placed $2 billion in a 10-year bond and we don’t need more financing, so why tackle the markets now?”
The financial markets have been troubled by a European debt crisis and a dour outlook on the U.S. economy released last week by the Federal Reserve, which increased concerns that a global recession could be on the horizon.