International bond sales in emerging markets are up 21 percent,to US$55 billion this month, the busiest start to a year sinceBloomberg began tracking the data in 1999. Poland is marketing $2billion of 2024 bonds today after the European Union's largesteastern economy raised 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) last week.Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Latin America's largest oil producer, hassold the most debt among 108 issuers, with a $5.14 billion offeringof euro- and pound-denominated securities.

Companies and governments in developing countries are seeking topre-empt any rise in borrowing costs that could result from thenext round of tapering by the Fed, which decided in December to trim monthly bond purchases by $10billion to $75 billion. U.S. policy makers next meet January 28 to29.

“Issuers want to tap the market now, as they fear that Fedtapering and a rise in U.S. Treasury yields will lift their ownfunding costs,” Regis Chatellier, a London-based director ofemerging-markets credit strategy at Societe Generale SA, said bye-mail yesterday. “They simply don't want to take that risk. So Iexpect new issuance to remain strong, for now.”

The acceleration in developing-country bond sales comes asglobal issuance declined.

Mexico, Indonesia, and energy company Petroleos Mexicanos haveeach sold $4 billion of debt, the data show. Central and EasternEuropean governments are also among the 10 biggest borrowers, withPoland, Slovakia, Romania, Latvia, and Lithuania raising a combined$8.8 billion, excluding today's Polish sale.

Slovenia hired banks for investor meetings in the U.S. and U.K.from January 21 for a possible benchmark-sized dollar sale, aperson familiar with the matter said today, asking not to beidentified because the terms aren't set. PKO Bank Polski SA,Poland's largest lender, sold 500 million euros of five-year bondstoday.

Emerging European nations are more resilient to Fed taperingthan peers that are struggling to contain budget and tradedeficits, according to Chatellier and Timothy Ash, a strategist atStandard Bank Group Ltd.

“While many larger emerging markets have deep underlyingproblems, and indeed much have less-compelling stories, emergingEuropean credit offers value on a risk/reward perspective,”London-based Ash said by e-mail yesterday.

Lower Yields

Yields on Poland's 2023 dollar bonds have fallen 25 basispoints, or 0.25 percentage point, this month to a two-month low of3.95 percent at 5:25 p.m. in London. The country's similar-maturityeuro notes yield 2.76 percent.

The Federal Open Market Committee Meeting will reduce themonetary stimulus in $10 billion increments at its monthlymeetings, according to a Jan. 10 Bloomberg survey ofeconomists.

Within a month of Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke first bringing uptapering plans on May 22, the yield on the Bloomberg U.S. DollarEmerging-Market Composite Index surged about 1.25 percentagepoints. The rate fell to a two-month low of 5.14 percentyesterday.

Yesterday's bond sale by Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-ownedoil company known as Pemex, included $3 billion of 30-year bonds, arecord for an emerging-market corporate issuer.

Romania plans to issue euro-denominated notes in the first half,Budget Minister Liviu Voinea said yesterday. The European Union'ssecond-poorest country raised $2 billion this week, includingsecurities maturing in 2044.

That's the longest tenor for dollar debt in the region, AbbasAmeli-Renani, a London-based strategist at Royal Bank of ScotlandGroup Plc, said in an e-mail yesterday. The offering shows Romaniais “oozing with confidence” due to “prudent” fiscal management andimproved economic balances, he said.

The following table shows the 15 biggest borrowers in emergingmarkets this year.

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