Bahrain-based The International Banking Corp (TIBC) has defaulted on some of its debt since the beginning of May, despite the fact that TIBC holds a large portfolio, mainly made up of shares listed in Saudi Arabia, valued at more than US$400mn on December 31, 2008, according to Standard & Poor’s.

Syndicated lending to Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa has fallen by 78% year-to-date compared with the same period in 2008, according to Dealogic.

The newly-appointed prime minister of Latvia, Valdis Dombrovskis, says his government is prepared to cut government spending by up to 40% in order to reduce the budget deficit and meet IMF austerity measures.

The Warsaw Stock Exchange is to launch trading in municipal and corporate bonds this year, says the exchange's CEO.

State-owned Libya Foreign Bank (LFB) plans to increase its capital 10-fold, from US$1bn to US$10bn, "in the next two to three years", according to the bank's chairman, Mohammad Bait-Elmal.

Western donors including the World Bank, African Development Bank and the UK government, pledged US$1.3bn in aid at a summit in early April, to help improve travel infrastructure on the North-South corridor connecting northern and southern Africa.

Bemo Saudi Fransi Finance (BSFF) has been appointed as lead manager in Al Baraka Bank-Syria’s upcoming initial public offering (IPO) on the recently opened Damascus Securities Exchange.

The Qatari unit of the Vodafone group will launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in April. The IPO will see 40% of the company’s authorised share capital offered to investors between 12 April and 26 April 2009, before its listing on the Doha Securities Market (DSM) in Qatar.

African oil explorer Tullow Oil has managed to secure a massive US$2bn worth of new reserve-based debt facilities, based on its success in uncovering world-class oilfields in Africa in the past three years.

EU, IMF, World Bank and EBRD are joining forces to support Romania with a €20bn financial support package, it was announced on March 25.

There are signs that the Kremlin is looking to capitalise on the relative economic weakness of its neighbours to expand its influence in the region.

Bankers are hoping renewed Eurobond issuance from emerging market sovereigns like Abu Dhabi and Qatar will open the door for EMEA corporate bond issues.