Issuance volumes increased 12-fold in the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago to Ps2.4 trillion ($1 billion). The contrast is starker when comparing the number of deals: 11 in the first three months of this year compared with just one in the first quarter of 2008.
Many more deals are expected in the near future. "The local bond market is still good," says Roberto Borras Polania, the Superintendente financiero de Colombia, the local regulator. "There has been a big increase in the amount of debt issued locally. This is in part because the international markets are closed, and in part because the local markets have improved so much."
Francisco Aristeguieta, managing director of the Andean region and country officer for Colombia at Citi, says:...
