309.4 billion dollars in the upright versions of the bonds and sukuk in the UAE at the end of the first quarter

The issues of sukuk and existing bonds in the UAE increased by 8.3% on an annual basis, to reach $ 309.4 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2025, according to the Fitch credit rating agency.

Bashar Al -Natour, General Manager and International President of Islamic Finance at the Fitch Credit Codex Agency, said that the debt markets in the United Arab Emirates continue to achieve strong growth.

He pointed out that this growth reflects the expansion of the financial scene of the state and its strategic location in the sukuk market, as the sukuk share reached 20.2% of the total existing publications in the Emirates, while the remaining bonds constituted.

On the level of new publications, the issues of sukuk in the UAE amounted to $ 4.9 billion during the first quarter of 2025, which represents twice the value of the issues in the fourth quarter of 2024, while bond versions amounted to 24.1 billion dollars.

He added that the UAE is a pivotal player in the global sukuk market, with a share of 6.5% of the total internationally existing sukuk until the end of the first quarter of 2025, which places it in the fourth place in the world after Malaysia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia.

He explained that the UAE is one of the largest debt exporters in US dollars in emerging markets with a share of 7% of the total debt issues in US dollars in these markets except China during the first quarter of 2025, ahead of most countries except Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Mexico.

Regarding the issues of bonds and sustainable sugar “ESG”, the UAE ranked third among emerging markets except for China during the first quarter of 2025, after Türkiye and the Philippines, according to the Natour.

The second largest share

Regionally, Al -Natour pointed out that the value of the debt markets “issues of sukuk and bonds” in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries amounted to 1.03 trillion dollars at the end of the first quarter of 2025, as the UAE acquired the second largest share with 30%, as well as the second largest share in the Gulf Sukuk market by 15.6% of the total existing sukuk.

He pointed out that the government’s implementation of the monetary work framework in the dirham led to an increase in the share of the dirham in the markets of the existing bonds and bonds to 24.8% by the end of the first quarter of 2025, compared to only 0.5% at the end of 2020.

He stated that government dirham publications are witnessing a strong request from investors.

He stressed that the government continues to support sustainability initiatives, as the organizational authority in April 2024 extended the exemption of fees to include bonds and sustainable sukuk, which supports the issues of these financial tools.

With regard to credit classifications, he pointed out that Fitch classifies 27.1 billion US dollars issued by the UAE, where 91.9% of them are ranked within the investment degree category, with a distribution of 39.5% in the A category A, 35.6% in the BBB category and 16.8% in the AA category and 6.4% in the BB category, 1.7% in the B. Category, and all the exporters of these instruments Have a stable future look.

Investment class categories usually show that most of these financial tools carry low to medium credit risks.

He expected the publications “bonds and instruments” in the UAE will remain active during the remainder of the year 2025, with expectations that they would reach 400 billion US dollars during the next few years.

Al -Natour attributed this growth to efforts to diversify the sources of financing, upcoming entitlements, financing projects and infrastructure, and organizational reforms.