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Bloomberg
Saudi Arabia is considering selling a dollar-denominated Islamic bond as early as next month as the kingdom seeks to take advantage of lower borrowing costs, according to reports.
The government is close to hiring banks for the possible sukuk sale. A sale would come just weeks after attacks on the kingdom’s oil facilities slashed Saudi Aramco’s crude output by half. Still, Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said the strikes had “zero†impact on the country’s revenue. S&P Global Ratings last week affirmed the country’s rating at A- with a stable outlook.
Emerging-market sovereign borrowers are returning to debt markets as stimulus from central banks cuts borrowing costs and investors chase yields. South Africa last week raised $5 billion from its first sale since May 2018, while Abu Dhabi sold $10 billion in bonds.
The kingdom said in December it plans to raise about $32 billion from local- and foreign-currency debt this year to help fund its budget deficit. Saudi Arabia has raised
$10.9 billion on international markets so far this year.