Washington D.C., March 30, 2016—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has launched the first bond by a non-resident issuer in the Namibian capital markets, raising 180 million Namibia dollars—equivalent to $12 million—for private sector development in the country.
The five year bond is named “Namib” after the world’s oldest desert. Namib means “vast space” in the Nama language and gave rise to the name of the country. The bond is part of a medium term note program registered with the Namibian Stock Exchange that allows IFC to issue up to 10 billion Namibia dollars, or approximately $650 million, in bonds in the domestic market.