A Tale of Two Gulf Bond Markets Lays Bare Rifts That Run Deep - Bloomberg:
Nations in the Gulf are attracting billions of dollars of inflows into their bond markets this year, but beneath the bonanza lies a geopolitical rift that sets the haves and have-nots of the region apart.
Qatar sold a three-part dollar bond offering on Wednesday, a day after Oman was downgraded to junk by Moody’s Investors Service. Speculation is growing that the cash-strapped country will need a bailout package from its neighbors, similar to the deal that buoyed Bahrain’s finances last year.
But unlike Bahrain, which has a close relationship with Saudi Arabia, Oman’s independent foreign policy has left it without support in the region. And neither does Oman have Qatar’s deep pockets or gas resources that allowed the nation to skirt a Saudi-led standoff, raised less $24 billion in less than a year and put it on track to post a budget surplus.
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