Iraq hopes to meet investors by the end of July to present plans for a $5 billion bond issue, the country’s finance minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters on Monday. The government has hired JP Morgan, Citibank and Deutsche Bank to arrange its first debt sale in nine years, to cover a budget deficit caused by low oil prices and its conflict with Islamic militants. Iraqi officials met with the three banks and credit rating agencies Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service on June 16, Zebari said by telephone. “We completed a very successful round of due diligence with the three banks and with the ratings agencies in Istanbul, and I think they are on board,” he said. “We will start our roadshow I think end of July, or early August at the latest, and then we will issue them. So everything is on track.” On April […]