#Kuwait Starts Mobilizing Banks for $6 Billion Bond Sale - Bloomberg

Kuwait Starts Mobilizing Banks for $6 Billion Bond Sale - Bloomberg

Kuwait has started the process of sending a request for proposal to banks to raise about $6 billion from international debt markets, according to Ministry of Finance officials.

The OPEC-member started approaching banks earlier today and is still in the process of contacting others, the officials said, asking not to be named. The offering is for dollar-denominated bonds, for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, the officials said.

Kuwait said in May it plans to raise as much as 6 billion dinars ($20 billion) in the 2025/26 fiscal year across both local and international bond sales, marking its first foray into debt markets in eight years.

The funds, part of a five-year strategy, will be used to finance development projects.

Kuwait’s cabinet in March approved a long-awaited law that paved the way for the Gulf nation to sell international debt for the first time since 2017. The legislation, held up for years by political wrangling, allows for a debt ceiling of 30 billion dinars over 50 years.

The finance ministry is also in the process of raising 500 million dinars from local financial institutions, two officials said.

The oil-dependent country’s been forced to dip into its much-depleted General Reserve Fund to finance its budget deficit. Last year, the fund sold some assets to the Future Generations Fund, which along with the GRF, is managed by the Kuwait Investment Authority.

Kuwait is a key US ally in the Middle East and one of the world’s biggest oil exporters. Its sovereign wealth fund is valued at over $1 trillion. The country’s last issuance was at $8 billion in March 2017, just days before the previous debt law expired.

Kuwait has little external debt and is rated A1 by S&P Global Ratings alongside China and Japan.

Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc arranged Kuwait’s 2017 sale.