Mubasher: The GCC sovereign issuance has seen a positive period during the first six months of 2018, amounting to more than $30 billion.
The GCC debt market is expected to soar this year, reaching as much as $50 billion, according to Fisch Asset Management (FAM).
“This robust performance by the GCC primary markets stands out as particularly strong when compared to the broader emerging market trend, where aggregate issuance is lagging significantly behind 2017 levels,” CEO at FAM Philipp Good said.
The potential inclusion of the GCC region in the JP Morgan EMBI Index, expected to take place early 2019, will boost the market, increasing the region’s contemplated combined index weighting to over 12%.
The fact that the combined weight of China, Russia, and Brazil at JP Morgan EMBI Index stands at 11%, stressed the significance of the inclusion of GCC in the index, Good continued.
“This index inclusion will have a very positive impact on the investment demand dynamic for the GCC, as index-based funds will allocate more capital to the region,” he noted.
In the second half of 2018, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are expected to add a considerable value to the total debt issuance of the full year, Fish revealed.
