Saudi Arabia remained the largest issuer of bonds and sukuk in the Gulf Cooperation Council during the first half of 2025, despite a 20% year-on-year decline in total issuance, according to a report by Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz).
Saudi entities raised $47.93 billion through 71 issuances in H1 2025, down from $59.73 billion in the same period last year. The UAE ranked second with $24.03 billion raised across 69 issuances, up 22.2% year-on-year. Qatar followed with $10 billion from 58 issuances. Bahrain raised $5.62 billion, Kuwait issued $3.39 billion (a 48% increase), and Oman raised $1.08 billion through six deals.
Total GCC bond and sukuk issuance reached $92.04 billion from 215 transactions in the first six months of 2025, a 5.5% decline from H1 2024. The drop was largely driven by sovereign issuance, which fell 48.2% to $31.85 billion.
Corporate issuances rose sharply, climbing 67.7% year-on-year to $60.2 billion. Government-related entities raised $11.2 billion through 11 transactions, up slightly from a year earlier.
Conventional bonds accounted for $51.61 billion of the total, increasing 7.8% from H1 2024. Sukuk issuance fell by 18.2% to $40.43 billion.
The financial sector led issuance activity, accounting for $40.1 billion across 167 deals. Government issuers followed with $31.9 billion across 25 transactions.
Issuance sizes ranged from $2 million to $5 billion. US dollar-denominated instruments dominated the market, accounting for $73.1 billion across 146 deals. Saudi riyal-denominated offerings totalled $7 billion across eight transactions, making it the second most-used currency in the region.
