Saudi Arabia mulls foray into new debt markets

Logo of The National Debt Management Center (NDMC) 

The National Debt Management Center (NDMC) is studying entering new markets for debt instruments, including green bonds, to ensure sustainable access to the various sovereign debt markets at fair rates, within well-studied frameworks and fundamentals for risk management.

The center intends to diversify its financing channels during 2025 according to the need and conditions of local or global markets and investor interests, thus increasing the contribution of the monetary hedging policy in raising confidence in the local economy, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper reported.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia aims to expand the investor base this year, through roadshows targeting investors in Asia, Europe and North America

According to data available with Argaam, NDMC has announced recently the completion of receiving investors ' requests for the international issuance for bonds under the Kingdom's Global Medium-Term Note Issuance Programme (GMTN). The total order book reached around $37 billion, which equals an oversubscription of three times of the total issuance of $12 billion (equivalent to SAR 45 billion).

As per the Kingdom’s annual borrowing plan for the fiscal year 2025, which was approved in January, the expected financing needs for 2025 amount to nearly SAR 139 billion, to cover the expected deficit in the state’s budget, which is estimated at approximately SAR 101 billion, and to pay off principal debts worth SAR 38 billion, set to mature this year.