Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, June 26, 2024 – The Government of the Dominican Republic, through the Ministry of Finance, has successfully issued its first sovereign green bond to fund sustainable projects in clean energy, transportation, waste management, and more. This issuance, amounting to USD 750 million, marks the first sovereign thematic bond from the Caribbean and Central America region. The issuance comes after the Reference Framework for Green, Social, and Sustainable Bonds was published just days.  

In the context of its ongoing cooperation with the European Commission under the Global Green Bond Initiative, a flagship initiative under the Global Gateway strategy, GGGI was happy to support the government of Dominican Republic for its inaugural green bond issuance.  

The new 12-year green notes carried a coupon of 6.7%, “approximately 15 basis points lower than what would have been achieved with other non-thematic instruments with a similar term. With the results of this issue, the capital markets have once again shown their confidence in the government’s commitment to the protection of the environment, social needs and sustainable development, as well as the solid performance of the economy” according to a post from the Ministry of Finance posted on X. Demand from foreign investors was six times the amount sought, demonstrating investors’ confidence in the country’s economy and commitment to sustainability.  

 
GGGI is pleased to have delivered technical advice and expertise to the government in developing the bond framework, establishing criteria for the selection of eligible projects based on the local Green Taxonomy and international best practices (including the European Union Taxonomy), leading to a positive Second Party Opinion by S&P. This ensures alignment with national environmental and social objectives, meeting international standards set by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA). GGGI will continue to support the government in the post-issuance process by providing assistance in the development of the underlying pipeline, allocation of proceeds, monitoring, quantification, and disclosure of environmental and social impacts. 

“The inclusion of thematic bonds in our financing plan not only promotes environmental and social benefits but also exemplifies our commitment to transparency in public debt management and diversifies our investor base,” emphasized María José Martínez, the Vice Minister of Public Credit. 

About GGGI’s Sustainable Finance Work in the Dominican Republic 

GGGI’s sustainable finance advisory in the country aims to enhance the institutional capacity, strategic frameworks, and project pipeline of the Government of the Dominican Republic to increase the mobilization of national and international climate finance and private investments for the implementation of the nationally determined contribution (NDC) and low carbon development.  

GGGI’s sustainable finance activities include the implementation of a multi-year GCF-funded program “Mobilizing International Climate Finance and Private Sector Investments for Low Carbon Development in the Dominican Republic”, launched in 2022. The program plays a pivotal role in the government’s climate change strategy and is posed to shape the country´s climate finance landscape for the coming decades by:

1) Developing the Dominican Republic´s National Climate Finance Strategy.

2) Supporting the accreditation of two candidate Direct Access Entities (DAEs) to the GCF and the establishment, operationalization and capitalization of a National Financing Vehicle.

3) Greening the Dominican Republic´s capital market and banking sector, promoting the scale up of green bond issuances and green credit programs.

4) Strengthening the resilience of critical infrastructure through climate-smart public-private partnership.