Samruk-Kazyna chairman says issuance marks an important milestone in strengthening the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and China.

A leading sovereign wealth fund from Central Asia has cast a vote of confidence in Chinese debt and the country’s currency by becoming the first institution from the region to sell yuan-denominated debt, known as panda bonds, in China’s onshore market, The Caspian Post reports via foreign media.

The decision by Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, to sell 3 billion yuan (US$440 million) in China’s interbank market comes as global investors are looking for safe havens amid geopolitical uncertainties such as the Iran war.

The three-year bond was priced at a “record-low” annual yield of 2.18 per cent, the fund said in a news release, noting that reflected the high level of confidence among Chinese institutional investors.

Samruk-Kazyna, which managed an estimated US$88 billion in assets at the end of last year, is Kazakhstan’s largest state-owned asset management institution.

“This is an important step in our integration into global capital markets - our first entry into China’s domestic market,” the fund’s chairman, Nurlan Zhakupov, said at the listing ceremony at the Astana International Exchange.

He said the issuance “marked an important milestone in strengthening the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and China”.