Mubasher: Primary bond and sukuk issues in the GCC countries went up 9.64% in the first half of the year, according to a recent report by the Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz).
The figures include central banks' local issues, GCC sovereign and corporate issuances which all totaled $95.25 billion in H1-2018, the report showed.
During the six-month period, a total of $32.77 billion was raised by the GCC central banks, namely by the central banks of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman.
The Central Bank of Kuwait raised the highest amount with KWD 4.77 billion ($15.88 billion), representing 48.59% of the total sums raised by central banks through 22 issuances, followed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, which raised a total of BHD 2.99 billion ($7.95 billion).
Qatar led the GCC issuances in terms of the total value, the report stated, raising a total of $19.97 billion through 47 issuances and representing 31.9% of the total value raised in the GCC.
The GCC bonds and sukuk market is composed of bonds and sukuk issued by GCC Sovereign, corporate entities and financial institutions for financing purposes in local and foreign currencies.
A total of $62.57 billion was raised in the GCC bonds market in H1-18, a growth of 33.27% from $46.95 billion in H1-17.
Saudi Arabian entities raised $17.37 billion from 10 issuances, up by 68.4% as compared to $10.31 billion in H1-17, making up 27.76% of the market.
UAE-based issuers raised $15.39 billion during H1-18, growing by 21.9% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, sovereign issues continued to dominate the GCC bonds and Sukuk market in the first half of 2018, contributing 60.2% to the overall market with a total value of $37.68 billion.
Of the amount outstanding as of 30 June 2018, $179.03 billion, or 38.60%, were issued by Saudi Arabian entities. Bonds and sukuk by Kuwaiti entities represented $19.66 billion, or 4.24% of the total amount outstanding.
US dollar-denominated issuances lead the GCC bond and sukuk market, raising 52.58 billion, or 84.19%, of the total amount raised by 113 issuances, followed by Saudi riyal raising 5.87 billion, or 9.38% through 6 issuances.
The total amount outstanding of corporate and sovereign bonds and sukuk issued by GCC entities was $463.29 billion, with government issuances making up the majority of the total amount outstanding with $236.02 billion, or 50.9% of the total amount.
The financial sector led the corporate sector with a total amount of $104.37 billion, or 22.5 %, of the total sum.
