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19 March 2024

Bahrain plans $1bn sovereign bond

IFR said bank responses were due on February 7 (FILE)

Published
By Reuters

Bahrain is considering a $1 billion sovereign bond issue and has invited banks to bid on arranging the issue, IFR Markets, a unit of Thomson Reuters, said on Wednesday.

The Gulf kingdom, a non-Opec oil producer, may launch the longer-term bond issue towards the end of March, aiming to raise $1 billion or higher, IFR said.

Bahrain issued a $1.25 billion 10-year bond last March which was heavily oversubscribed. That issue was run by BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.

IFR said bank responses were due on February 7.

Bahrain plans to spend 5.3 billion dinars ($14.06 billion) over the next two years and oil prices need to rise to $97-$100 per barrel to balance its budget, the finance ministry said last month.

The 2011 budget deficit was set at 372.7 million dinars, well below an original plan of 1.3 billion for 2010.