Kuwait is still considering the issuance of international bonds worth around 3 billion dinars ($9.90 billion), a finance ministry official told Al Arabiya TV on Monday. Like other Gulf Arab states, Kuwait is turning to debt capital markets to raise money as oil prices remain at less than half their levels two years ago. Qatar in May sold $9 billion of Eurobonds, while Saudi Arabia completed a record-breaking $17.5 billion debut offering last week.
However, sources told Reuters earlier this month Kuwait's planned bond had been postponed until 2017 after authorities decided it was in no rush to raise funds overseas. Speaking to the television channel on Monday, Finance Ministry Undersecretary Khalifa Hamada said the country's sovereign wealth fund, the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), would start to look at the measures that needed to be taken to complete an offering at the end of October.
"We will look at the economic feasibility and the cost on the country for the issuance, as it is very important to take this into consideration," Hamada said. He added that the country hadn't yet begun engaging with international banks about the bond because the KIA was still preparing the technical and legal frameworks for the deal.
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