USA Africa Dialogue Series - The Creditors Can Now Hound War Criminal And Pervert Gbagbo

Ivory Coast Bonds Retreat to a Record Low; No Payment on Default Deadline

By Chris Kay - Jan 31, 2011 4:59 AM ET

 

Ivory Coast's dollar bonds dropped as creditors said they hadn't received payment of overdue interest on the last day to avoid a default on the $2.3 billion of debt.

The bonds of the world's biggest cocoa producer fell 1.1 percent to 36.354 cents on the dollar as of 9:53 a.m. in London, according to bid prices quoted on Bloomberg. A close at that level would be the lowest since the bonds were issued in April. The yield on the 2.5 percent debt due December 2032 rose 17 basis points to 17.493 percent,

"I'm not aware of any payment yet," said Thierry Desjardins, chairman of the London Club group of commercial bank creditors that holds Ivory Coast debt. "We will continue to check during the day,"

Ivory Coast missed a $29 million interest payment on Dec. 31 amid a political standoff between incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, 65, and his rival Alassane Ouattara, 69, holed up in an Abidjan hotel surrounded by army forces. Both claim victory in the Nov. 28 elections. Each says the other is responsible for paying bondholders.

If the West African nation misses the payment it will be the first sovereign default since Jamaica in January 2010, after the island nation was hurt by a drop in tourism and remittances because of the worst global recession since World War II, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Mediation

The African Union will today name five heads of state who have been asked to persuade Gbagbo to relinquish the presidency. "Ivory Coast stands on a knife's edge" and "with preparations for armed conflict under way on both sides, a small spark could ignite a major conflagration," Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who has been leading AU mediation efforts, told reporters Jan. 28.

Gbagbo would have made the payment by now if he had intended to avoid default, Ouattara said in a Jan. 18 interview. Ahoua Don Mello, an adviser to Gbagbo, said in interviews his month that investors must recognize Gbagbo as the winner of he elections to receive payment or ask Ouattara.

Gbagbo, who has ruled since 2000, has refused to cede power, citing a ruling by the Constitutional Council that annulled votes in parts of Ivory Coast's north on fraud allegations and gave him victory.

Ouattara, a former deputy managing director of the IMF, is recognized as the election victor by the UN, the U.S., former colonial ruler France, the African Union and the regional Central Bank of West African States. He is seeking to starve Gbagbo's government of funds to pay the army, which has maintained a blockade on the hotel that has become his headquarters. The region's central bank, also known by its French acronym BCEAO, said it shut its offices in the commercial capital Abidjan Jan. 27.

Clashes have led to the deaths of at least 271 people and thousands of refugees fleeing to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Kay in London at ckay5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net