Indonesia has raised $4.3 billion, including the longest-dated US dollar bond ever issued by an Asian nation, to help the government fund its battle against coronavirus, the country’s finance minister said.

The deal was finalised in the United States on Monday and sold in maturities of 10.5 years and 30.5 years, worth $1.65 billion each, with a 50-year tranche worth $1 billion.

It was Indonesia’s largest-ever bond, according to a term sheet reviewed by Reuters, which showed Indonesia will use the cash raised to partly “fund its COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts”.

“We took the opportunity for the 50-year bonds because investor preferences for long-term maturities were very strong,” Indonesia finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Tuesday.

The 50-year bonds were priced with 4.5 per cent coupon rate, which she said is lower than coupon rate priced for a 10-year government bond issued by Indonesia in 2018.

Asian life insurers, especially some based in Taiwan as well as US fund managers, were the largest investors, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The sources could not be named because they were not authorised to speak to media.

“The mood in the market is starting to feel better, investors are starting to think we could be moving towards the end of the tunnel,” a banker working on the deal said.

The deal was carried out virtually, with bankers working on the transaction unable to travel to Jakarta, which would have been normal practice.

Indrawati said the proceeds of the bond sales would also help increase foreign exchange reserves at Bank Indonesia.