Finance Minister Mihaly Varga announced the issue of EUR 575m of samurai bonds in a post on Facebook early Friday. Hungary issued three-, five-, seven- and ten-year bonds, Mr Varga said, adding that green bonds accounted for „the biggest part” of the issue. „Investor confidence in the Hungarian economy is unbroken,” he said.

The Government Debt Management Agency (AKK) said in its 2022 financing plan issued in December that Hungary could „strengthen further” its market presence in Asia with the issue of more green bonds and flagged the possible issue of a samurai bond in Q1 2022.

In a press release, AKK said Hungary issued JPY 75.3bn of samurai bonds on Friday.

Hungary sold JPY 16bn of a three-year conventional bond at a spread of 39bp over mid-swaps. It also sold JPY 46.8bn of a five-year green bond at a spread of 62bp over mid-swaps; JPY 4.7bn of a seven-year green bond at 74bp over mid-swaps; and JPY 7.8bn of a ten-year green bond at 89bp over mid-swaps.

The lead organisers for the issues were Daiwa Securities, Mizuho Securities and Nomura Securities.