Saudi Arabia raises $2.27 billion in Islamic bonds

The finance ministry of Saudi Arabia has said that the Kingdom raised 8.495 billion riyals ($2.27 billion) in sukuk, or Islamic bonds, in June.

The first tranche of the sukuk issue is 2.494 billion riyals, and the total tranche size is 5.017 billion riyals, maturing in 2027, a ministry statement said.

The second tranche has a size of 3.670 billion riyals , and a total tranche size of 13.966 billion riyals, maturing in 2030.

The third tranche has a size of 2.331 billion riyals, and a total tranche size of 10.569 billion riyals, maturing in 2035.

On the other hand The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), which is a multilateral development finance institution in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and is focused on Islamic finance, issued a $1.5bn (SAR5.63bn) sukuk, listed on Nasdaq Dubai.

The sukuk is steered towards supporting COVID-19 relief initiatives and brings the number of IsDB’s total sukuk value on Nasdaq Dubai to 12 with a value of $16.14bn (SAR60.59bn).

The capital raised will fund medical, social and business projects in many of the bank’s 57 member countries, IsDB announced in a statement.

The sukuk is the second to be issued under IsDB’s Sustainable Finance Framework, following its first Green Sukuk last year; it is the first ever AAA-rated Sustainability Sukuk in addition to being the first COVID-19 related sukuk in the global capital markets.