Romania launched its first green bond issue on Thursday, a long-awaited move aimed at diversifying the investor base amid growing demand for green bonds, Reuters reported, citing Agerpres.

The 12-year greenbacks have a spread of 345 basis points over intermediate swaps, with the final price set on Thursday evening.

In parallel, Romania is also issuing seven-year ordinary bonds, with offers for the two types of bonds exceeding €10 billion.

Romania has spent more than a year preparing the necessary framework for issuing green bonds, and Treasury chief Stefan Nanu said in December that Romania plans to issue its first green bonds in the first half of 2024.

Stefan Nanu also said that Romania intends to become a frequent annual issuer of “green” bonds and that he will try to keep issues low.

Romania, a country that is already planning several renewable energy projects to receive EU funding, will use the green bond framework to finance projects in green transport, building energy efficiency and reforestation, among others.

Officials in charge of public debt management plan to reduce net issuance of Eurobonds to 6 billion euros this year from 9.5 billion euros in 2023. At the same time, the Bucharest government wants to reduce the budget deficit to 5% of GDP, from 5.7% of GDP last year.

Finance sold significantly more government bonds than planned in January, including $4 billion worth of Eurobonds maturing in 2029 and 2034, taking advantage of strong demand in Europe.

All three major rating agencies assign Romania the lowest rating in the “investment grade” category, with a stable outlook.

Thursday’s show is organized by Citi, HSBC, Erste Group, JP Morgan and Societe Generale.