Markaz Report: GCC Fixed Income market sees USD 189.47 billion in primary issuances during 2025 representing a 28 increase%.

In its Fixed Income Report, Kuwait Financial Centre “Markaz” states that primary debt issuances of Bonds and Sukuk in the Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) Countries amounted to USD 189.47 billion through 515 issuances during 2025, a 28.13% increase from the previous year, where issuances in 2024 amounted to USD 147.87 billion.
Issuances by Geography: Saudi-based issuances led the GCC during 2025, raising USD 78.70 billion through 139 issuances, down slightly from USD 79.46 billion in 2024, a decrease of 1.0%, and representing 41.5% of issuances during the year. UAE- based issuances ranked second, with USD 47.71 billion through 203 issuances, representing 25.2% of the market, an increase of 24.0% from the previous year. Kuwaiti entities were the third largest issuers in terms of value, with USD 23.69 billion issued through 35 issuances, an increase of 515% from the previous year and representing 12.5% of the issuances in 2025. Qatari issuers follow, with a total issuance size of USD 22.47 billion through 104 issuances, a 42.3% increase from 2024. Bahraini issuances recorded a 63.0% increase from the previous year, recording a total value of USD 11.24 billion through 18 issuances. Omani entities recorded the lowest value of issuances during the year, with USD 5.66 billion raised through 16 issuances, representing 3.0% of the total value of issuances.
Sovereign vs. Corporate: Total GCC corporate primary issuances increased by 45.1% in 2025, amounting to USD 115.68 billion raised, compared to USD 79.71 billion raised in 2024. Corporate issuances represented 61.1% of total issuances for 2025, in line with the preference of issuances in 2024 where more corporates issued than sovereigns (Corporate issuances 2024: 53.9%). Government related corporate entities raised USD 16.28 billion through 16 issuances during the year, an increase of 3.19% from 2024 (USD 15.78 billion through 15 issuances). Total GCC sovereign primary issuances increased by 8.3% in 2025, raising USD 73.79 billion throughout the year, representing 38.9% of total issuances.
Conventional vs. Sukuk: Conventional issuances increased by 36.6% in 2025 compared to 2024, raising a total of USD 107.7 billion for the year. Sukuk issuances, meanwhile, increased by 18.5% in 2025, resulting in a total value of USD 81.77 billion for the year. As for issuance preferences, 2025 saw an increased appetite for conventional issuances in the GCC, representing 56.8% of total issuances for the year. This is in line with issuance preferences from 2024, where more conventional bonds were issued also.
Sector Segmentation: The Financial sector led the bond and sukuk issuances in 2025, with total value of USD 81.37 billion through 403 issuances representing 42.9% of total issuances. Government issuances follow, with USD 73.79 billion through 67 issuances, representing 38.9% of total issuances. This represents an increase for both the financial sector (58.7%) and for government issuances (8.3%) when compared to the previous year. The real estate sector follows, with USD 13.34 billion through 19 issuances, representing 7.0% of total issuances, with the remaining sectors together representing a small portion of total issuance (11.07%).
Maturity Profile: In 2025, primary issuances with less than 5-year tenors represented 49.3% of GCC debt capital markets with a total value amounting to USD 93.46 billion through 367 issuances. Primary issuances with 5–10-year tenors followed, raising USD 64.95 billion through 104 issuances, representing 34.3% of total issuances. Primary issuances with 10–30-year tenors represented 6.7% of GCC debt capital markets with a total value of USD 12.72 billion through 14 issuances during the year. One issuance came in with a maturity greater than (“GT”) 30 years with a value of USD 1 billion, while perpetual issuances saw an increase in both the size and number of issuances when compared to 2024, with a total value of USD 17.35 billion through 29 issuances.
Issue Size Profile: During 2025, GCC primary issuances ranged in size from USD 2.0 million to USD 5 billion. Issuances with issue size of USD 1 billion or greater raised the largest amount, totaling USD 100.85 billion through 59 issuances and representing 53.2% of the total amount issued in the GCC. Issuances sized between USD 500 million and USD 1 billion followed, with a total issuance size of USD 58.79 billion through 94 issuances. The highest number of issuances was under USD 100 million issue size, where there were 266 issuances that raised a total amount of USD 8.56 billion during 2025.
Currency Profile: US Dollar-denominated issuances led the GCC Bonds and Sukuk primary market again in 2025, raising a total of USD 145.10 billion through 318 issuances, representing a substantial 76.58% of the total value raised in primary issuances during the year. The second largest issue currency was the Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD), where KWD denominated issuances raised a total of USD 7.54 billion through 16 issuances. As for currencies bucketed under “Other” which totaled USD 10.13 billion, the Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) represented 0.98% of total issuances with a total value of USD 1.86 billion through 49 issuances.
Rating: In terms of value, a total of 72.3% of GCC Conventional and Sukuk bonds were rated in 2025 by at least one of the following rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch and Capital Intelligence, an increase from 2024 (62.4% of all issuances rated). Issuances rated within the Investment Grade accounted for 64.9% of the total issuances during the year, while Sub-Investment Grade accounted for 7.3% of rated bonds.






















 

---