Still room for improvement in Singapore bond market, say investors

Most observers would agree that the development of Singapore's debt capital markets has been considerable. Corporate issuance has increased tenfold in the last five years, rising from S$5.1 billion to $50.5 billion in 2000, while issuers such as the Land Transport Authority, the stat board responsible for rail and road construction, have pushed the yield curve out to 15-years.

Nonetheless, the 115 investors who participated in FinanceAsia's local currency poll 2001 still say that the market has plenty of scope to develop further. Although the results showed clearly that the government has played an important supporting role — 43% of participants said it was excellent — they also suggested that it could be doing more to increase liquidity, with 38% deeming this to be below average.