(Bloomberg) -- El Salvador bought back $487 million of its hard-currency bonds after tapping the global capital market for the first time in almost four years.

The Central American nation accepted all tenders for notes due in 2025, along with 41% and 24.7% of the offered bonds that mature 2027 and 2029, respectively, according to a government statement released Tuesday. 

The result came after the government raised $1 billion in debt due in 2030 that included an additional interest-only security tied to the nation’s credit score or a deal with the International Monetary Fund. 

“The outcome of the buyback was slightly better than expected, as the net increase in outstanding debt was smaller than we had thought,” wrote Juan Martin Sola, senior economist at BancTrust & Co. 

El Salvador’s dollar bonds gained Wednesday along with most emerging peers, with the newly-issued 2030 notes rising 0.6 cent on the dollar to 89 cents, according to indicative pricing data compiled by Bloomberg. 

The transaction eases the strain on El Salvador next year, reducing principal payments to almost $100 million, according to Ricardo Penfold, a managing director at Seaport Global in New York. 

Still, the debt sale sent a “negative signal” by giving the government 18 months to reach a deal with the IMF before it is forced to offer higher interest rate on the securities. That indicates no agreement until 2025, according to Sola. 

“Because of this and the recent increase in global risk aversion, we expect the outcome of the buyback to have a rather modest impact on bond prices in today’s trading,” Sola said.

--With assistance from Maria Elena Vizcaino.

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