Amounts outstanding on the global bond market on March 2012 were about $100 trillion. That means in March 2012, the bond market was much larger than the global equity market that accounted for a market capitalization of around $53 trillion.

The outstanding value of international bonds in 2011 was about $30 trillion. There was a total issuance of $1.2 trillion in the year, which was down by around one fifth of the 2010’s total. In 2012, the first half saw a strong start with issuance of over $800 billion.