The government said on Friday that it has successfully issued foreign exchange equalization bonds worth a billion U.S. dollars.

According to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the bonds were issued at 11 a.m. on Thursday, U.S. Eastern time. It has a maturity of ten years.

The interest rate of the bonds was two-point-871 percent, 55 basis points higher than that of the U.S. Treasury Bonds. The rate is the lowest attached to the dollar-denominated South Korean foreign exchange equalization bonds since the South Korean government began issuing them.

It is the first time South Korea has issued dollar-denominated equalization bonds since Standard and Poor’s(S&P) upgraded the country’s sovereign credit rating by one notch from AA-minus to AA in August.

The ministry said the bonds drew much interest from global investors, adding that the early order for the bonds amounted to three billion dollars.