Latvia: bonds, indices, credit ratings

In Latvia the fixed income market is small by international standards, yet it has developed a versatile legislative framework and adequate institutions. The Latvian fixed income market is formed by the governmental bonds, mortgage bonds, and corporate bonds. In 2008 these segments took s 73 %, 16 %, and 11 %, respectively. Government bonds strongly dominate the Latvian capital market in the aspect of both amount and liquidity.

Development of Latvia's government bond market started in December 1993. Since 1999, government bonds have been actively traded at the Riga Stock Exchange. The attractiveness of Latvian government bonds is determined by the good country rating and the fact that the volume of the non-government bonds is not large.

One of the basic features of Latvia's capital market is the preference that non-financial enterprises have for banks' credit over the issuance of bonds. Bond yields are usually higher than credit interest rates, therefore issue of bonds is not attractive to companies. Banks are the most active issuers in the corporate bond segment.