Kenichiro Shiozawa, the director of the capital markets division of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, tells Euromoney's Charles Olivier that JBIC paper is undervalued but that when conditions improve a euro issue will be considered.
How much debt does JBIC plan to raise in the financial year beginning April 1 2003? We have budgeted to raise $2.2 billion or the equivalent of Japanese government-guaranteed debt in the international capital markets. We have also budgeted to raise ¥240 billion ($2 billion) of debt without government guarantee (FILP agency bonds) in the domestic capital market.
How much have you issued so far? We have already issued FILP agency bonds to the value of ¥120 billion.
Why has JBIC issued so little dollar- and euro-denominated debt in recent years? Our funding of foreign currency reflects our funding needs and market conditions. Funds raised by government-guaranteed bonds are used for foreign currency-denominated loans by our international financial operations. Funds raised by FILP agency bonds are used for yen-denominated loans.
You have already established a 10-year benchmark and a five-year benchmark in US dollars. Do you plan to issue other benchmarks in US dollars? At this stage, we have not plans to issue other benchmarks in dollars, except five-year and 10-year benchmarks.
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