Bonds Buy Time for Arab Oil States in for $900 Billion Shortfall
- Qatar said planning to follow Abu Dhabi with Eurobond sale
- April busiest month for Middle East issuance since mid-2014
SHAYBAH, SAUDI ARABIA - MARCH 2003: A worker stands at a pipeline, watching a flare stack at the Saudi Aramco oil field complex facilities at Shaybah in the Rub' al Khali ('empty quarter') desert on March 2003 in Shaybah, Saudi Arabia.
Photographer: Reza/Getty ImagesThe let-up in oil’s two-year downward spiral is allowing Middle Eastern governments and companies to step back from raiding reserves and belt-tightening by reopening access to international capital markets.
Since Abu Dhabi’s $5 billion Eurobond last month brought an end to a drought that pushed issuance to a seven-year low in 2015, Qatar’s government, a real estate group in the country, a Kuwaiti bank and a United Arab Emirates investment company have been sounding out potential investors as the region’s borrowing costs drop to near the cheapest in six months.