The volume of Kingdom's public debt has reached SR342.4 billion, according to a report of the Debt Management Office (DMO) at the Ministry of Finance. The total local debt that was issued by the Ministry of Finance in 2016 until the end of September amounted to SR 97 billion, in addition to $10 billion (SR 37.5 billion) international syndicated loans arranged in May 2016, and $17.5 billion (SR 65.6 billion) in terms of international bonds issued in October 2016, bringing to SR 200.1 billion the total local and international debts issued in 2016, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The DMO emphasized that the ministry will resume the local debt issuances during the fiscal year of 2017. It is also working on the development of the primary debt market, diversification of debt instruments through issuing local and international Shariah compliant sukuk (Islamic bond), and contribute to develop the secondary debt market through registering and listing the local debt instruments in the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). This is part of DMO's objective to update and develop the Kingdom's overall strategy and plan pertaining to public debt, the report pointed out.
