S&P Global Ratings said Saudi sukuk issuance increased by 37% in 2021; The volume of issuances by the Saudi government and national companies amounted to $36.9 billion in 2021, representing about 25% of the total global issuance.
In 2020, the value of Saudi sukuk issuance amounted to $27 billion, and $28.6 billion in 2019, according to a statement issued by the agency on Sunday.
While global sukuk issuance declined to 147.4 billion US dollars in 2021, compared to 148.4 billion US dollars in 2020; Issuances of sukuk denominated in foreign currencies increased by 10%.
Saudi issuances contributed to this huge increase in foreign-currency-denominated sukuks, such as Aramco’s sukuks, for example, in addition to the continued growth of issues in Malaysia and Indonesia, and to a lesser extent, issues from Turkey, as a result of favorable market conditions and abundant liquidity.
The issuance by some Gulf banks of capital support tools by taking advantage of these same favorable conditions contributed to providing a strong boost to issuance in the past year, according to the agency.
S&P Global expects issuance in 2022 to range between $145-150 billion, and believes that the implementation of national transformation plans, such as Saudi Vision 2030, will provide some opportunities for sukuk issuance.
The agency also sees the opportunities created by the energy transition in core Islamic finance countries, the increased awareness of regional issuers in ESG, and the increasing reliance on automation using FinTech solutions; It is likely that it will support the growth of the sukuk market in the future.
On the other hand, gold prices in Saudi Arabia in trading today, Sunday, February 6, 2022, maintained their stability, and gold futures rose by 0.2% to $ 1808.9 an ounce, to record the precious metal up by about 1% during the week.
Gold prices rose with the dollar’s decline during Friday’s trading, ahead of the jobs data, which markets expect to affect the Fed’s tendency to tighten monetary policy.
The price of an ounce of gold reached 1808 dollars in Saudi Arabia, the second day of the weekend for global stock exchanges, and the price of gold occurred during the past week, rising and falling by 11 dollars, as it appeared early last week, the price of an ounce of gold 1797 dollars, and the stock market closed yesterday evening on an ounce of gold at 1806 dollars.
The price of a gram of 24 karat gold, in the morning trading on the Saudi Stock Exchange, was 217.98 riyals, 58.13 dollars.
The price of a gram of 22 karat gold was 199.82 riyals, $53.28.
And the price of a gram of 21 karat gold was 190.73 riyals, 50.86 dollars.
As for the price of a gram of 18 karat gold, it reached 163.49 riyals, 43.60 dollars.
