Why Indonesia offers a compelling story for fixed income investors

Amid the attention focused on the recent downgrade of China, it is easy to forget that Indonesia was upgraded the week beforehand, when Standard & Poor's became the third and last of the major agencies to rate the country as investment grade (BBB-).

Indonesia has rarely been a poster child on the global stage, but it has been within Asian investment circles. Its dogged focus on new infrastructure, real GDP growth of 5% year-on-year, subdued inflation, a more stable rupiah, an improving current account and a reformist government have added up to a compelling story for fixed income investors. Yet at the time of writing, its 10-year local bonds were yielding a comparatively high 7%. That compares well to 10-year yields available from other nations with the same investment grade rating of BBB- (and a stable outlook). Chief among t...