Saudi Arabia continues to lead GCC debt issuances in 1Q 2026

Saudi Arabia remained the GCC’s biggest debt issuer in 1Q 2026, raising USD 32.54 bn across 42 issuances, according to the Kuwait Financial Center’s (Markaz) fixed income report for the quarter. The Kingdom’s tally was up 3.1% y-o-y during the quarter and accounted for 59.1% of the USD 55.04 bn raised across 95 transactions in the region during the quarter.

Across the region, government issuances accounted for the largest share of transactions (37.2%), raising USD 20.46 bn from 12 issuances. Coming in a close second is issuances from the financial sector, with 64 issuances worth a combined USD 19.45 bn. Despite accounting for 35.3% of total issuances, that value dropped 14.0% y-o-y. Energy followed at USD 5.52 bn from six issuances (a 10.0% share), while all other sectors together accounted for 17.5% of issuances during the quarter.

The quarter was dominated by short-term issuances, which accounted for 41.8% of total volume at USD 23.01 bn from 58 transactions. Mid-term issuances (5-10 years) followed with USD 17.24 bn across 21 transactions, accounting for 31.3% of the total. Long-term paper carrying tenors of 10-30 years trailed with 16.4% of the volume, bringing in USD 9.0 bn from five issuances, and a single ultra-long bond (30+ years) raised USD 1 bn. Perpetuals also gained ground in both size and count, rising to USD 4.79 bn across 10 issuances.

Large-cap issuances of USD 1 bn or more dominated the GCC primary market during the quarter, accounting for nearly two-thirds of total issuance volume at USD 33.33 bn from 20 transactions. Mid-sized issuances between USD 500 mn and USD 1 bn followed at USD 15.37 bn from 24 issuances. The most active slice by count was again the sub-USD 100 mn category, where 31 smaller transactions raised a combined USD 1 bn.