"Center": 129% growth in Kuwaiti fixed-income issuances
Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) stated in its fixed income report that initial issuances of bonds and sukuk in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries totaled $102.69 billion through 161 issuances in the first half of 2026, representing a 6.5 percent increase compared to the same period last year, when total issuances reached approximately $96.42 billion.
The Markaz report noted that Saudi issuances led the Gulf region with $49.34 billion through 58 issuances, up from $48.58 billion in the first half of 2025, an increase of 1.6 percent, accounting for 48 percent of the total GCC issuance value. UAE issuances ranked second at $25.45 billion through 58 issuances, representing 24.8 percent of the market, despite a 6.8 percent decline compared to the same period last year. Qatari entities ranked third in issuance value, raising $12.4 billion through 18 issuances, a 32.3 percent increase compared to the same period last year, accounting for 12.1 percent of the total issuance value.
Kuwaiti issuances followed, with a total issuance value of $8.67 billion through 14 issuances, marking a 128.6 percent increase compared to the first half of 2025. Bahraini issuances recorded a 32.8 percent decline compared to the same period last year, reaching a total value of $4.03 billion through five issuances, while Omani entities issued a total of $1.82 billion through six issuances. Finally, the market saw two issuances from a regional entity, the Arab Energy Fund, valued at $1.00 billion.
The report indicated that the total initial corporate issuances in the GCC rose by 8.4 percent to reach $66.67 billion, compared to $61.5 billion in the first half of 2025. Corporate issuances accounted for 64.9 percent of the total issuances, consistent with their 63.8 percent share in the first half of 2025, continuing to capture a larger market share compared to sovereign issuances. Semi-government entities raised $20.37 billion through 15 issuances in the first half of 2026, an 81.4 percent increase compared to the first half of 2025, when they raised $11.22 billion through 11 issuances. The total value of initial sovereign issuances in the GCC rose by 3.1 percent to $36.01 billion, representing 35.1 percent of total issuances.
The report also highlighted a 33.3 percent increase in conventional issuances compared to the first half of 2025, raising a total of $73.63 billion. Conversely, sukuk issuances declined by 29.5 percent, reaching a total value of $29.06 billion. Regarding issuance preferences, the first half saw greater demand for conventional issuances in the Gulf, accounting for 71.7 percent of the total. This aligns with issuance preferences in the first half of 2025, when conventional bonds were also issued more than sukuk.
The report highlighted that issuances by the financial sector led the bond and sukuk market, with a total value of $41.70 billion across 104 issuances, accounting for 40.6 percent of the total. This was followed by government issuances, totaling $36.01 billion through 29 issuances, representing 35.1 percent of the total. This reflects an increase of 2.4 percent in financial sector issuances and 3.1 percent in government issuances. The energy sector ranked third, with a value of $13.72 billion through 11 issuances, accounting for 13.4 percent of the total issuance value, while other sectors combined accounted for a smaller share of 11 percent of the total.
The report also examined the size of Gulf initial issuances, which ranged from $4.1 million to $4.3 billion. Issuances valued at $1 billion or more held the largest share, totaling $63.55 billion through 35 issuances, representing 61.9 percent of the total amount issued in GCC countries. This was followed by issuances valued between $500 million and $1 billion, totaling $26.55 billion through 41 issuances. The highest number of issuances fell within the category of issuances valued under $100 million, with 43 issuances totaling $1.28 billion.
It noted that dollar-denominated issuances continued to dominate the Gulf bond and sukuk initial issuance market, raising $83.42 billion through 100 issuances, accounting for a significant 81.2 percent of the total. The Saudi riyal was the second-largest currency by value, with riyal-denominated issuances raising a total of $7.46 billion through 10 issuances, followed by Kuwaiti dinar-denominated issuances totaling $5.67 billion through 12 issuances. Other currencies, totaling $3.7 billion, included the British pound, which accounted for 0.8 percent of total issuances, with a value of $785 million through 4 issuances.
The report stated that 75.1 percent of Gulf conventional bond and sukuk issuances received one or more credit ratings from one of the following rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch, and Capital Intelligence. This represents an increase from the first half of 2025, when rated issuances accounted for 69.9 percent of the total issuance value.
