In this paper we provide a survey and a discussion of the recent sovereign bond issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Seychelles were the first country to issue Eurobonds in 2006, followed by the Republic of Congo, Ghana and Gabon in 2007. Others followed suit and to date a total of fifteen countries have used this source of finance. Raising funds through the international markets provides opportunities and risks. On the one hand bonds allow governments to pursue their sovereign choices and development trajectory. On the other hand countries face multiple risks, such as changes in exchange rates and commodity prices. Furthermore, some countries have only got weak capacity to implement and oversee the projects and manage their debt in a sustainable way. While some countries, for example Ethiopia, are able to use this new source of finance productively, we are pessimistic as to the debt management capability in most other countries. In particular with falling commodity prices debt restructuring, even defaults, appear likely for a number of African countries.
