Wednesday 15 April 2009

Bahrain to launch $1bn debt sale

Bahrain will add to efforts by the Arab Gulf states to create an active bond market in the region by raising more than $1bn in a debt sale in local currency and US dollars, the central bank revealed on Tuesday.

Abu Dhabi, part of the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar have already sold $6bn worth of bonds between them in the past month but are expected to issue more and at longer maturities, as are Kuwait and the UAE’s Dubai.

The bonds are primarily to secure financing for important development projects and government-owned subsidiaries and, in some cases to plug budget deficits. But it is also hoped that sovereign bonds from the states can create benchmarks against which corporate issuers in the region will be able to price their own debt.

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