BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 22. The volume of Azerbaijan's outstanding debt securities was announced to exceed 10 billion manat ($5.9 billion) in the first half of 2026 during the presentation of the “Q2 2026: Review of the Azerbaijani and Global Economy and Capital Markets” bulletin prepared by the Baku Stock Exchange for the second quarter of 2026, Trend’s correspondent reports from the event.
According to the bulletin, at the end of the reporting period, the outstanding volume of government securities amounted to 4.97 billion manat ($2.92 billion). At the beginning of the year, this figure stood at 5.32 billion manat ($3.13 billion). Nevertheless, government securities remained the largest segment among outstanding debt instruments.
The outstanding volume of mortgage bonds increased to 3.44 billion manat ($2.02 billion), while the volume of bonds issued by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) rose to 0.98 billion manat ($0.57 billion). The outstanding volume of corporate bonds remained largely stable at 0.67 billion manat ($0.39 billion).
According to the information, long-term instruments dominated the bond market. The maturity of about half of outstanding debt instruments extended beyond five years. This was mainly attributed to the long-term nature of mortgage bonds. Instruments with maturities of less than one year mainly consisted of notes issued by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.
In the first half of 2026, there were 28 public bond placements, compared with 27 placements in the same period of 2025. Meanwhile, a limited increase was also recorded in issuance activity by SOEs and corporate issuers.
The bulletin noted that placement activity in the bond market increased in the second quarter of 2026. The total volume of placements of corporate and SOE bonds amounted to 85.8 million manat ($50.5 million) in the first half of the year. Of this amount, 55.8 million manat ($32.8 million), or around 65%, accounted for corporate issuers, while 30 million manat ($17.6 million) was attributable to SOEs.
Financial sector entities accounted for 90% of placements. Within this sector, non-bank financial institutions held the larger share.
In the second quarter of 2026, the volume of placements increased to 41 million manat ($24 million) from 35 million manat ($20.6 million) in the first quarter. The increase was mainly recorded in bonds with coupon rates below 11%. Issuance in this category rose from 8 million manat ($4.7 million) to 29 million manat ($17 million), accounting for around 71% of total placements in the second quarter.
At the same time, placements of bonds with coupon rates ranging from 11% to 14% declined sharply, while a decrease was also recorded in issuances with coupon rates above 14%.
Thus, in the first half of 2026, the bond market was characterized by a notable share of longer-term instruments among outstanding debt securities and a growing share of lower-coupon issuances in the placement structure.
