Qatar To Sell 4bn Riyals Of Three And Five Year Bonds

Qatar will sell 4 billion riyals ($1.1 billion) of three-year and five-year bonds and sukuk, its state news agency said on Thursday.

The Gulf state’s central bank will offer local banks 3 billion riyals worth of bonds and 1 billion riyals worth of Shariah-compliant notes, Qatar News Agency (QNA) said.

The local currency issues will take place quarterly, it said, without specifying how much of each maturity would be sold.

In January the International Monetary Fund’s 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 50 billion riyal ($14 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.