Latin America Top Local Currency Debt Issuer

Latin American countries were the top issuers of local currency debt in the third quarter of 2005, thanks mainly to Brazil. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), which publishes the figures of local currency issues in international markets, noted that Brazil’s real-denominated offering in September, worth $1.5 billion, accounted for most of the region’s total local-currency international issuance of $2 billion.