Qatar to sell $1.1bn bonds, sukuk

Qatar will sell QR4 billion ($1.1 billion) of three-year and five-year bonds and sukuk, its state news agency said. The local currency issues will take place quarterly, it said, without specifying how much of each maturity would be sold.

The Gulf state's central bank will offer local banks QR3 billion worth of bonds and QR1 billion worth of Shariah-compliant notes, Qatar News Agency (QNA) said.

In January the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) mission chief for Qatar told Reuters that the objective behind an issuance would be to build a domestic sovereign yield curve. Qatar's central bank was not available for comment.

Qatar has issued local currency bonds before. In January 2011, the central bank issued a QR50 billion three-year bond directly to local banks as a step to drain excess money from the banking system.

In recent months, Qatar-related debt denominated in dollars has drawn strong demand from international investors; majority state-owned Qatar Telecom saw heavy bids for a $1 billion bond sale in January.

(Trade Arabia / 09 March 2013)

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