At a time when many bond investors vacillate between concerns over rising interest rates and the belief that the multi-decade bull market in fixed income is not over yet, emerging market (EM) local currency debt deserves to be given more attention than it often gets these days.
Indeed, EM local currency debt has become one of the largest fixed-income universes over the past eight years, with issuance by EM governments rising to USD 8 trillion by January 2018 and corporate debt in local currencies exceeding USD 7.6 trillion. The asset class has also become deeper, with market liquidity improving, and broader, with more countries and more EM corporates now issuing debt.
