Emerging East Asia's local currency (LCY) bond markets continued to expand in 2012, signaling increased investor interest in the region's fast-growing economies, says the latest edition of the Asia Bond Monitor (ABM)

Emerging East Asia's local currency (LCY) bond markets continued to expand in 2012, signaling increased investor interest in the region's fast-growing economies, says the latest edition of the Asia Bond Monitor (ABM). Emerging East Asia had US$6.5 trillion in outstanding LCY bonds at the end of 2012, a 12.1% increase from US$5.7 trillion at the end of 2011. The region's corporate market, though smaller than the government bond market, drove the increase, growing 6.2% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) and 18.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to reach US$2.3 trillion. Governments in the region are increasingly opting to sell longer-dated bonds, another sign of strong market confidence in the economies of the region. The full issue of the ABM is available at http://asianbondsonline.adb.org/documents/abm_mar_2013.pdf?src=wdh&id=uWidK3KdmgXVUWes9IgIcqKp1miwxx