(Bloomberg) -- South Korea priced its first dollar bond on Wednesday since October 2021, joining a slew of issuers across Asia Pacific selling debt in the US currency.

The sovereign sold $1 billion of five-year notes, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. 

South Korea’s finance ministry said earlier this month that the sale, targeted to potentially reach $1.3 billion, was geared toward investors such as other governments and central banks. It added the deal was meant to set a stable reference rate for Korean companies, whose roughly $22 billion of issuance so far this year is a record for the period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Borrowers from across the region have rushed to the market since the start of last week, which was the busiest in Asia ex-Japan since January 2023. This week’s issuers have included Indonesia’s $2.35 billion dollar bond deal. Roughly a half-dozen firms were set to price deals on Wednesday alone.

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