The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) today released figures on new international bond market issues for the third quarter of 2007, showing that the total value of new issuance in this period was US $503 billion. This figure represents a 43% decrease in the value of new issuance compared with the figure for the previous quarter of 2007.
The value of new issuance in the third quarter of 2007 was also significantly down on the same period last year, falling by 28% from a figure of almost US $706 billion in 2006.
The slowdown in issuance due to market conditions was reflected across most major issuing currencies, with exception of the sterling and Swiss franc sectors where new issues were actually up on the same quarter last year.
A chart showing the breakdown of new issuance by currency is available from ICMA’s website at www.icmagroup.org. The figures incorporate all internationally issued debt with a life greater than one year, including asset backed international issues and government issues, domestic debt is excluded.
