Saudi Arabia is considering plans to raise as much as $15bn through sovereign bonds this year, its first foray into international debt markets.

The kingdom is said to be encouraged by Qatar’s record bond sale in late May, and is weighing the option to secure at least $10bn in five-, 10- and 30-year bonds after the end of Ramadan in July, according to US news agency Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter.

The discussion with the banks are at an initial stage and a decision has yet to be made on the final size of the issue. Riyadh has invited proposals from banks to help it arrange the deal.

GCC governments have turned to international capital markets to raise funds in order to plug budget deficits after oil prices fell from a mid-2014 peak of more than $110 barrel a day.

Qatar attracted $23bn in orders for its $9bn bond issue, the biggest-ever transaction from a Middle Eastern nation. Abu Dhabi, which accounts for about 6 per cent of the world’s proven oil reserves, managed to secure $5bn from the sale of five- and 10-year bonds last month. The region’s commercial and trading hub, Dubai, is also said to be preparing an international bond sale this year.

Saudi Arabia’s Finance Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

One of the government’s biggest challenges is to navigate through the worst economic slowdown since the global financial crisis, as the kingdom embarks on a radical reform agenda to prepare for the low oil price era. Riyadh, which is expected to run a $86bn budget deficit in 2016, has already cut spending, put projects on hold and has delayed payments to contractors to preserve cash.

Saudi Arabia has been raising funds from the debt market by selling local currency bonds to banks and financial institutions since late last year. In April, the kingdom secured its first loan in at least 15 years, raising $10bn through a loan facility.

The country is now setting up a debt management office to streamline its domestic and international borrowings, and has hired Fahad al-Saif from UK bank HSBC to run it, sources earlier told Bloomberg. Al-Saif joined the Finance Ministry on an open-ended secondment from HSBC’s Sabb.

The Saudi central bank’s net foreign assets have tumbled by more than SR500bn ($133bn) since the start of 2015 to SR2.15 trillion in April.

International ratings agencies have also cut the kingdom’s credit rating on diminishing revenues from the sale of hydrocarbons and depleting foreign reserves. The US’ Moody’s Investors Service slashed it to A1 from Aa3 early in May, the second cut this year, while ratings were also lowered by fellow US ratings agencies Fitch Ratings and S&P earlier in 2016.