T&T Mulls Foreign and Local Issues

The finance ministry of Trinidad & Tobago is considering issuing a $350m 15-year overseas bond. The sovereign aims to pay 5.5%-6.0%, Janette Cupid-St Hilaire, director of T&T’s public sector finance, tells LatinFinance. A 10-year TTD1bn ($155m) paying around 5.8% is also expected to be sold locally. She adds that issuance remains to be confirmed, and that an official decision is expected in the third quarter. She says proceeds will be used to cover the 2010 fiscal deficit. JPMorgan analyst Neeraj Arora writes in a research note that the FY2009-10 budget envisions an overall fiscal deficit of 5.4% of GDP, or $1.2bn, assuming an average WTI oil price of $55 per barrel and natural gas prices of $2.75mmbtu. “We expect some improvement to an overall fiscal deficit of 4.0% of GDP. For the first five months of the fiscal year [October-February] oil prices have been higher than budgeted [$74 compared to $55], which should have boosted government revenues,” he adds.