Access to the international bond market by African countries is recent.
The first Eurobonds were issued in the mid-1990s by South Africa. While Algeria and Tunisia entered the market in the early 2000s, the market really took off after the 2008 financial crisis, helped by the low interest rate environment in developed economies. African sovereign securities then represented attractive investment opportunities for international investors and an alternative to concessional loans for issuing countries.
The size of the asset class has grown steadily over the past few years. It now represents over USD 140 Bns USD of sovereign issues, compared to less than USD 30 Bns in 2010. There are now 19 issuing countries in the asset class.