France's public debt management agency has for now ruled out issuing bonds in foreign currencies, the head of its strategic committee said on Wednesday. With about 63 percent of French national debt in foreigners' hands, France relies heavily on foreign investors to buy its government bonds.
The Agence France Tresor agency that manages the country's public debt mulled the idea of issuing in major foreign currencies, including the Chinese yuan, the head of its strategic committee of external experts, Jacques de Larosiere, said.
"There was a debate about this and at the end of the day we took the AFT's position, which was not favourable," Larosiere, a former head of the French central bank, said at a hearing in
the lower house of parliament.
The AFT was concerned that issuing in other currencies could give investors the impression that it could not find sufficient investors to take on its debt in euros, he said.
"This is not the case. The euro market is very much sufficient. It would be for strategic reasons to reach out to foreign markets and we have not so far found sufficient reasons to do it," Larosiere said.
As one the biggest debt issuers in the euro zone, AFT plans on issuing 187 billion euros ($206.15 billion) in medium and long-term bonds this year.
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