According to a report from the Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz), Saudi Arabia was the leading issuer of bonds and sukuk in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the first half of 2025. Despite a 20% year-on-year drop in its debt issuances, the country raised $47.93 billion, accounting for over half of the region’s total.

Here’s a breakdown of the key findings for the GCC’s bond and sukuk market in the first half of 2025:

• Total Issuances: The entire GCC saw a 5.5% decline in total bond and sukuk activity, reaching $92.04 billion across 215 issuances.

• Country Rankings: Following Saudi Arabia, the UAE was the second-largest issuer at $24.03 billion (a 22.2% increase from the prior year), and Qatar was third at $10 billion. Kuwait saw a notable 48% increase, while Oman had the lowest total.

• Issuance Type: Corporate issuances surged by 67.7% to $60.20 billion, while sovereign debt issuance fell sharply by 48.2% to $31.85 billion.

• Instrument Type: Conventional bonds increased by 7.8% to $51.61 billion, while sukuk sales declined by 18.2%.

• Leading Sectors: The financial sector was the biggest issuer with $40.1 billion in debt, followed by government issuances at $31.9 billion.

• Currencies: The U.S. dollar was the most common currency for these issuances, totaling $73.1 billion. The Saudi riyal was the second most-used currency at $7 billion.