Senegalese bonds plunged to fresh record lows, placing the West African nation into debt-distress territory, according to a measure widely considered to be the threshold that locks countries out of global capital markets.
The sovereign risk premium on Senegal’s bonds over US Treasuries widened to 1,077 basis points on Wednesday, according to indicative intraday quotes from JPMorgan Chase & Co. indexes. That places the country among other African issuers whose debt is trading at or near 1,000 basis points, seen as a marker of distress. Mozambique’s spread is at 965 basis points, and Gabon’s earlier this month traded above the threshold.