borrowing

“Some of these companies financed at 2%-3% interest rates,” borrowing as much as seven times their cash flows, says Orlando Gemes, chief investment officer at Fourier Asset Management, a credit hedge fund in London.

But South Africa and other developing countries argue that issues like reducing the cost of borrowing for poorer countries require the input of international institutions like the IMF and cannot be done through one-on-one deals.

Recent developments overseas have the potential to complicate the White House’s agenda to bring down borrowing costs, while heightening competition for investors in the U.S. and Japanese bond markets.

Sweden’s National Debt Office will publish a borrowing review on Thursday.

If the central bank holds borrowing costs steady, that would make Bitcoin and its peers less appealing relative to interest-bearing investments such as bonds and savings accounts.