The Minister of Finance, Alejandro Zelaya, stated that the 2023 bonds rose around 80% last Tuesday, after President Nayib Bukele’s announcement, while the 2025 bonds rose 51%. The trend continued this Wednesday, and just around 11 in the morning, the price of the 2023 bond increased by 87% and that of the 2025 bond by 48%.
For more than 30 years, the ARENA and FMLN administrations dedicated themselves to filling their coffers and neglected the main objective of benefiting the population in general, without executing social investment projects for the benefit of the population.
According to the Minister of Finance, Alejandro Zelaya, terrible fiscal planning, with financing at high interest rates, generated a high level of indebtedness for the country. However, it will be the government of President Nayib Bukele that has to assume these risks and safeguard the Salvadoran economy.
“The governments of ARENA and the FMLN left us in debt. All they did was steal. Also, they were lousy tax planners and set interest rates high as if they wanted to hurt the country,” he remarked.
Zelaya stated that the initiatives approved yesterday by the Legislative Assembly will allow the international market and investors to reiterate their confidence in the country.
One of these actions presented by the Executive allows the Central Reserve Bank (BCR) to allocate the Special Drawing Rights (SDR), funds that belong to the Republic and that when used will have an average of around $360 million. In addition, it included budget support from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), which is a disbursement of investment spending that we carry out as a government to address the effects of the international crisis.
After the announcement made by President Bukele, Salvadoran bonds reached important values, especially the 2023 Eurobonds, which rose around 80% on Tuesday, while the 2025 bonds rose around 51%.
The trend continues this Wednesday, and just around 11 in the morning, the price of the 2023 bond was at 87% and that of the 2025 bond was at 48%.
The official explained that with these initiatives, the government will be able to pay off the debt acquired by the governments of ARENA and the FMLN, but above all, by making the early repurchase of bonds, it can save the State between $100 and $150 million.
The government reaffirms that it complies with its obligations and is using the tools at its disposal. “If we want to move this country forward, we must act and not sit idly by,” he asserted.
The initiatives presented by the Bukele administration were well seen and approved by national economists, such as the former president of the BCR, Carlos Acevedo, who stated in an interview with “Bloomberg Online” that the strategy of buying sovereign debt from El Salvador was a “bold move”, and considers that it is “the best option for this issue of Eurobond maturities”.