Debt issuance in the region for the remainder of the year is set to remain high, according to a statement from Swiss-based bond strategies firm Fisch Asset Management.

The company has estimated new issues in excess of $20bn for the rest of the year with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia’s dollar sovereign deals expected to be completed by the end of the year.

In August, UK-based consultancy PWC said that the appetitie for debt issuance in the GCC has surged throughout the second quarter of 2017.

Saudi Arabia’s $9bn Islamic sukuk dominated the GCC region’s debt market between January and June 2017.

The Saudi sukuk, the first to be conducted in US dollar denomination, was structured into a $4.5bn five-year sukuk tranche at 100 basis points over the mid-swap rate and an equal-sized 10-year tranche at a spread of 140 basis points to the benchmark.

The Omani government also issued a $2bn, seven-year Islamic sukuk, which was structured at 235 basis points to the benchmark, during the second quarter of the year

Saudi Arabia’s Dar al-Arkan Sukuk Company issued a $500m sukuk, which received significant interest from international market participants. MEED understands the order book was close to SR4bn ($1.05bn), equal to two times of the amount issued.

The Dubai branch of Beijing-based Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) led the region’s corporate bond issuance. The firm listed three bonds on Nasdaq Dubai amounting to $400m, $300m and $500m.

In Saudi Arabia, Acwa Power Management issued an $814m bond, while National Bank of Kuwait issued non-guaranteed bonds worth $750m as part of its medium term bonds issue programme.