Dormant Saudi Bond Market Stirs as Oil Kingdom Seeks $27 Billion

After an eight-year interlude, Saudi Arabia’s government bond sales are coming alive.

The desert kingdom that’s home to both the world’s second-biggest oil reserves and Islam’s holiest sites sold on Monday five-year debt with a coupon of 1.92 percent, seven-year notes at 2.34 percent, and 10-year securities at 2.65 percent, according to two people familiar with the matter. The government didn’t say how much was sold, though two people with knowledge of the plan said last week it aimed to auction as much as 20 billion riyals ($5.3 billion) as part of a program to raise a maximum of 100 billion riyals by year-end.