NUR-SULTAN – The Asian Development Bank has raised nearly 8.4 billion tenge (US$20.1 million) from the first gender bonds issued in Kazakhstan, reported the bank’s press service.
Asian Development Bank building.
The funds will help finance ADB’s Promoting Gender Equality in Housing Finance project meant to expand lending operations of Kazakhstan’s Otbasy Bank and promote affordable mortgage loans to women, particularly in rural areas. The ADB loan is the first external loan of the Otbasy Bank guaranteed by the Kazakh Ministry of Finance.
The bond pays a 10.15 percent semi-annual coupon and features a 10-year bullet maturity redeeming in December 2030. The bond sets a new benchmark as it is the longest maturity local currency bond issued by any multilateral development bank in Kazakhstan.
Auctioned and listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, the offering was sold to domestic institutional investors.
“ADB is eager to contribute to the development of Kazakhstan’s thriving capital markets,” said ADB Treasurer Pierre Van Peteghem. “This inaugural tenge-denominated gender bond follows soon after our first green bonds last November and underlines the catalytic nature of ADB’s borrowing program in Asian local currencies.”
The ADB also plans to issue bonds to finance Aktobe-Kandyagash road construction that links CAREC Corridors 1 and 6.
Overall, ADB has issued more than $3.2 billion in thematic bonds to support education, gender, health, and water projects as investors allocate more funds to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.
