ISRAEL AT WAR
Israel raises $200 million in bonds, including $150 million from U.S. state and local governments
Israel, which has one of the most successful diaspora bond programs in the world, launched a bond-selling campaign on Tuesday to support the country during the war with Hamas
Israel has raised $200 million from diaspora bond sales since the war with Hamas began, Israel Bonds said in a statement.
The group, the government's vehicle for diaspora bonds, said that U.S. state and local governments accounted for $150 million of the purchases.
"The response across many U.S. states was immediate and demand exceeded the amount of Israel bonds that we were able to sell at that time," Dani Naveh, president at Israel Bonds, said in a statement.
Israel, which has one of the most successful diaspora bond programs in the world, launched a bond-selling campaign on Tuesday to support the country during the war with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
The war, and its potential disruption to the economy, pushed the cost of insuring Israel's debt against default to 109 basis points on Wednesday, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
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That is a more than 80% jump to the 5-year credit default swaps, as the instruments are known, from before the Hamas attacks on Israel on Saturday, and marks their highest level since November 2013.
Israel's sovereign eurobonds have fallen this week, with the shorter-dated maturities more than 1 cent below the pre-attack levels and the 2120 maturity down by more than 2.5 cents.
Israel Bonds said it had nearly reached its standard annual goal to raise $1 billion before the war began. As of Dec. 31, it had $5.4 billion worth of outstanding bonds, representing approximately 12% of Israel's external governmental debt.
