Finance Minister says that operating in Chinese currency is a “sovereign strategy” and denies that Brazil is under pressure from the USA
The Minister of Finance, , said this Wednesday (June 24, 2026, Brasília time) that he does not feel that the Brazilian government is under pressure from the United States in relation to its economic policies, especially the issuance of Brazilian debt securities in Chinese currency, the so-called .
Speaking to journalists in Beijing, the minister defined the launch of the bonds on the Chinese market as a “sovereign strategy” from Brazil. He declared that the operation is not related to the recent friction with the White House as it was a years-long plan by the Ministry of Finance. He said that the issuance of Panda Bonds will not be affected by any type of embarrassment with the USA.
“We have a national strategy and this strategy will be executed independently of foreign forces, unlike what some want in Brazil. But whoever leads a sovereign country like Brazil must execute its sovereign strategy regardless of constraints from abroad”said the minister.
Durigan participated in the delivery of the letter of intent to issue Panda Bonds from the National Treasury to the People’s Bank of China – equivalent to the Chinese Central Bank.
According to the minister, the issuance of bonds must be carried out “next few months”. The government is already monitoring the Chinese market to define the best time for launch. He said that the estimated funding for this 1st operation is a strategic secret to achieve the best possible result.
In the last issue of bonds in euros, carried out in April this year, the National Treasury sold them to the European market.
WHAT ARE PANDA BONDS
Panda Bonds are bonds issued by foreign companies or countries in yuan. It has this name because securities in currencies outside the dollar and euro zone usually receive a nomenclature in reference to distinctive elements of the country. In the Chinese case, the panda.
The main advantages of issuing Panda Bonds are:
- easier access to the Chinese bond market and institutional investors from China;
- diversification of the investor base, trusting in the robustness of the Chinese economy to provide an alternative to the dollar and the euro;
- relatively low issuance interest rate (historically 1.98% to 4.5%).
More than a dozen countries and companies have already issued debt securities in yuan. In Brazil, the pioneer of Panda Bonds was Suzano, which carried out its first operation of the type in 2024. At the time, it raised 1.2 billion yuan (around US$168 million) with a maturity of 3 years and an annual rate of 2.80%.
