GCC debt issuance surged to its highest level this past decade, totalling $226 billion in the year to November 11, 2025, while surpassing last year’s record of $136.3 billion.
The growth in debt capital markets (DCM) this year sharply contrasted to IPO activity in the region that raised the lowest amount of cash since 2020, according to a S&P Global Market Intelligence report.
Growth in DCM this year has been attributed to a rise in strong investor demand, which has prompted government entities and corporations to sell new debt at tight spreads.
“Many issuers remained on the sidelines last year, partly due to expectations of rate cuts, but this year spreads have tightened massively in the region and that convinced them to return to the market,” Nour Safa, head of MENA debt capital markets at HSBC, said in the report.
The post summer market saw a flurry of sovereign issuance from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, with corporates also joining in the frenzy with notable issuances including Saudi Aramco, along with the UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).
Key to the additional debt activity this year was the $11 billion raise issued by the Kuwaiti government as it returned to DCM after an eight-year gap, along with a $10 billion increase in Saudi bank issues, largely in the form of hybrid capital, the report stated.
IPOs decline
According to S&P Global report, 2025’s DCM boom contrasted considerably with the ebbing activity in regional equity capital markets (ECM), where IPOs raised the lowest amount of cash in a year since the pandemic.
This year has seen 40 IPOs raising a combined $5.81 billion, less than half of the $12.88 billion raised rom 52 listings in 2024.
Only Saudi Arabia’s low-cost airline Flynas’ raised more than $1 billion through its June IPO, while the region’s share of the total money raised globally from IPOs fell 4.1% from 10.3% in 2024.
The report stated the slump was due to the poor performance of some companies post-listing and fewer government-related businesses available for flotation following a prolonged part-privatisation drive in the likes of the UAE, Oman and Saudi.
Despite a slowdown, Saudi Arabia’s stock market remained the most active for IPOs in the EMEA region, accounting for 31 of the Gulf’s 40 IPOs.
(Writing by Farah Heiba; Editing by Bindu Rai)
