* Majed Al-Khalidi from Riyadh
Saudi Arabia accounted for 13 per cent of the volume of sukuk that is issued globally last year,
of $ 114.8 billion, which includes domestic and foreign currency issues in US dollars.
According to an analysis of the report unit in the newspaper "AlEqtisadiah" that based on Saudi Ministry of Finance data and Standard & Poor's, Saudi Arabia's sukuk issuance in 2018 were amounted to about $ 14.9 billion that is including $ 2 billion in foreign issues and about 12.9 billion dollars "48.7 billion riyals" issues of local sukuk, which are accounting for 13 per cent of the $ 114.8 billion global Sukuk issuance.
Global issuances of Sukuk denominated in foreign currency over the past year exceeded $30 billion, while the remaining issues of local currencies of countries were amounted to about 84.5 billion dollars.
Saudi Arabia's foreign-currency issuances of $ 2 billion are equivalent to about 6.6 per cent of the volume of instruments issued in foreign currency globally during the last year 2018.
Sukuk issuances fell by 4.8 per cent to $ 114.8 billion by the end of 2018, compared to 120.6 billion in 2017, which fell by about 5.8 billion dollars.
Foreign currency denominated instruments accounted for 26.4 per cent of total global issuances, while the local currency of the countries was accounted for about 73.6% by the end of last year 2018.
In 2017, it was accounted for 29.4 per cent for foreign currency issues and about 70.6 per cent for local currency of the issuer countries.
In turn, the Saudi Ministry of Finance continued to diversify its funding during the past year between domestic and foreign debt issues, as well as withdrawals from government deposits and the general reserve to finance the budget deficit during the period.
The Saudi Public Debt Management Office was based on specific mid-term approaches to public debt management through the development of a medium-term strategy and an annual plan for borrowing in order to secure Saudi Arabia's funding needs and ensure Saudi Arabia's sustained access to various world debt markets at a fair price.
* Economic Reports Unit
