Markaz Report: GCC Fixed Income market sees USD 55.04 billion in primary issuances during Q1 2026, representing a 5.64% 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 55.04 billion through 95 issuances during Q1 2026, a 5.64% increase from the same quarter last year, where issuances in Q1 2025 amounted to USD 52.10 billion.

Issuances by Geography: Saudi-based issuances led the GCC during Q1 2026, raising USD 32.54 billion through 42 issuances, up slightly from USD 31.56 billion in Q1 2025, an increase of 3.1%, and representing 59.1% of issuances during the quarter. UAE-based issuances ranked second, with USD 13.57 billion through 36 issuances, representing 24.7% of the market, an increase of 33.1% from the same quarter last year. Qatari entities were the third largest issuers in terms of value, with USD 4.20 billion issued through 11 issuances, a decrease of 41.2% from the same quarter last year and representing 7.6% of the issuances in Q1 2026. Bahraini issuers follow, with a total issuance size of USD 2.10 billion through 2 issuances, a 37.2% increase from Q1 2025. Kuwaiti issuances recorded a 40.7% increase from the same quarter last year, recording a total value of USD 1.98 billion through 3 issuances. Omani entities recorded the lowest value of issuances during the quarter, with USD 650 million raised through 1 issuance, representing 1.2% of the total value of issuances.

Sovereign vs. Corporate: Total GCC corporate primary issuances increased by 5.7% in Q1 2026, amounting to USD 34.58 billion raised, compared to USD 32.71 billion raised in Q1 2025. Corporate issuances represented 62.8% of total issuances for Q1 2026, in line with the preference of issuances in Q1 2025 where more corporates issued than sovereigns (Corporate issuances Q1 2025: 62.8%). Government related corporate entities raised USD 2.65 billion through 2 issuances during the quarter, a decrease of 60.9% from Q1 2025 (USD 6.78 billion through 6 issuances). Total GCC sovereign primary issuances increased by 5.5% in Q1 2026, raising USD 20.46 billion during the quarter, representing 37.2% of total issuances.

Conventional vs. Sukuk: Conventional issuances increased by 6.2% in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025, raising a total of USD 35.89 billion for the quarter. Sukuk issuances, meanwhile, increased by 4.6% in Q1 2026, resulting in a total value of USD 19.15 billion for the quarter. As for issuance preferences, Q1 2026 saw an increased appetite for conventional issuances in the GCC, representing 65.2% of total issuances for the quarter. This is in line with issuance preferences from Q1 2025, where more conventional bonds were issued also.

Sector Segmentation: Government issuances led the bond and sukuk issuances in Q1 2026, with a total value of USD 20.46 billion through 12 issuances representing 37.2% of total issuances. The financial sector follows, with USD 19.45 billion through 64 issuances, representing 35.3% of total issuances. This represents an increase in government issuance (5.5%) and a decrease for the financial sector issuances (-14.0%) when compared to the same quarter last year. The energy sector follows, with USD 5.52 billion through 6 issuances, representing 10.0% of total issuances, with the remaining sectors together representing a smaller portion of total issuance (17.5%).

Maturity Profile: In Q1 2026, primary issuances with less than 5-year tenors represented 41.8% of GCC debt capital markets with a total value amounting to USD 23.01 billion through 58 issuances. Primary issuances with 5–10-year tenors followed, raising USD 17.24 billion through 21 issuances, representing 31.3% of total issuances. Primary issuances with 10–30-year tenors represented 16.4% of GCC debt capital markets with a total value of USD 9.00 billion through 5 issuances during the quarter. 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 Q1 2025, with a total value of USD 4.79 billion through 10 issuances.

Issue Size Profile: During Q1 2026, GCC primary issuances ranged in size from USD 10.0 million to USD 3.5 billion. Issuances with issue size of USD 1 billion or greater raised the largest amount, totaling USD 33.33 billion through 20 issuances and representing 60.6% 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 15.37 billion through 24 issuances. The highest number of issuances was under USD 100 million issue size, where there were 31 issuances that raised a total amount of USD 1.00 billion during Q1 2026.

Currency Profile: US Dollar-denominated issuances led the GCC Bonds and Sukuk primary market again in Q1 2026, raising a total of USD 46.78 billion through 62 issuances, representing a substantial 85.0% of the total value raised in primary issuances during the quarter. The second largest issue currency was the Saudi Riyal (SAR), where SAR denominated issuances raised a total of USD 4.04 billion through 5 issuances. As for currencies bucketed under “Other” which totaled USD 1.30 billion, the Singaporean Dollar (SGD) represented 1.6% of total issuances with a total value of USD 897 million through 10 issuances.

Rating: In terms of value, a total of 76.8% of GCC Conventional and Sukuk bonds were rated in Q1 2026 by at least one of the following rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch and Capital Intelligence, a decrease from Q1 2025 (84.9% of all issuances rated). Investment Grade issuances accounted for 62.5% of the total issuances during the year, while Sub-Investment Grade accounted for 14.2% of rated bonds.