...JOHANNESBURG (S&P Global Ratings) Feb. 9, 2023--S&P Global Ratings said today that it does not consider Uganda's liability management exercise for its local currency bond, due April 13, 2023, to be a distressed exchange. However, the exercise suggests heightened medium-term fiscal and monetary risks associated with rising debt servicing costs, amid competing policy objectives. After assessing the terms of the new debt to be issued under the transaction, we consider the swap offer opportunistic, since bondholders can participate on a voluntary basis, and should receive instruments with a higher and market-determined yield compared with the "old" tendered instruments. The Bank of Uganda (BOU) indicates that those investors that choose not to participate will continue to receive interest on time on the "old" instruments. The BOU has on two previous occasions (January 2021 and February 2022) provided investors the option to voluntarily convert Treasury bonds into higher-yielding, longer-dated...
