IFR ASIA: The ADB has been very keen on local currencies within ASEAN, am I correct? NORITAKA AKAMATSU, ADB: We are very supportive of this integration. The Asian bond market has basically two pillars: one is integration, the other is market development. But market development very much focuses on the frontier markets. Something cannot be integrated until it exists, so the focus there is on middle-income countries where there is a functioning market. The case of Laos and Thailand is a very speci

IFR ASIA: Let’s start with a view from the macro level. How do you see the need for international issuance out of Asia? Is there still a drive for countries to come into the global markets? NORITAKA AKAMATSU, ADB: There are some differences between the countries we are discussing today, like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Some of them are simply not ready, and even have a policy not to issue bonds, while others do issue. All of them are of course

IFR Asia Frontier Markets Roundtable 2016: Roundtable participants Noritaka Akamatsu Asian Development Bank Noritaka Akamatsu is senior adviser to the ADB’s Sustainable Development & Climate Change Department and a specialist in promoting regional financial cooperation and integration. He joined the ADB in 2009 to run financial sector operations after 20 years at the World Bank, originally as lead financial economist and head of the capital markets group until moving to Vietnam as programme

After a dismal run for global emerging markets, Asia’s frontier sovereigns could almost be forgiven for turning down the chance to issue international bonds. At a low point in the commodity cycle, many of the world’s less-developed countries find themselves facing high refinancing costs as they struggle to keep global investors onside. The enthusiasm of 2013-2014, when funding costs for EM governments were almost too good to refuse, seems long gone. That poses a tricky question for would-be sove