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GCC debt maturities to hit $143b peak in 2029, UAE leads corporate wall
GCC governments and companies face a record $491b in bond and sukuk maturities through 2030, with UAE banks and corporates shouldering the region’s biggest repayment burden
- PUBLISHED: Thu 30 Jul 2026, 10:00 AM
GCC fixed income markets are bracing for a wave of maturities over the next decade, with sovereign and corporate bond/sukuk repayments in the region climbing sharply from $30.7 billion in 2026 to a peak of $143.1 billion in 2029, according to Kamco Invest’s latest GCC Fixed Income Market Update.
The report, based on Bloomberg data, shows GCC maturities will stay elevated between 2027 and 2031 before gradually tapering off toward 2035. Over the next five years alone (2026-2030), sovereign maturities are estimated at $236.6 billion, while corporate maturities are slightly higher at $254.8 billion — together totalling close to half a trillion dollars.
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Most of these obligations are denominated in US dollars (64.5 per cent), followed by Saudi riyal (9.2 per cent) and Qatari riyal (7.3 per cent). Conventional bonds dominate the maturity profile at $308.4 billion, well ahead of sukuk at $183.0 billion, and the bulk of the paper carries high investment-grade or A-rated status.
Saudi Arabia carries the largest maturity load at $167.4 billion through 2030, driven mainly by government issuance. The UAE follows closely at $157.4 billion, though its maturity profile looks markedly different — corporates, rather than the sovereign, account for the lion’s share at $125.6 billion. Qatar rounds out the top three with $89.0 billion, while Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain face comparatively modest maturities of $22.3 billion, $31.5 billion and $23.7 billion, respectively.
UAE banks dominate
The UAE stands out as the epicentre of the region’s corporate maturity wall. Banks and financial institutions dominate GCC corporate repayments, accounting for $187.4 billion, or 73.5 per cent of total corporate maturities, through 2030. UAE banks alone are due to repay $88.9 billion — the single largest exposure of any sector-country combination in the region — followed by Qatari banks at $32.9 billion. Together, UAE and Qatari banks make up 47.8 per cent of all GCC corporate maturities and nearly a quarter of total bond/sukuk maturities regionwide.
The UAE also leads the region’s real estate maturity profile, with $11.4 billion due by 2030, well ahead of Saudi Arabia’s $3.2 billion, reflecting the emirate’s deep and active property financing market.
On the issuance side, the UAE was the sole source of green bond and sukuk issuance from the GCC in the first half of 2026, contributing all of the region’s $4.8 billion in green paper — even as global green issuance hit a record $307.9 billion in the same period. The UAE was also the second-largest issuer of perpetual instruments this year, at $3.7 billion, behind Saudi Arabia’s $7.4 billion.
Record year for issuance expected
Regionwide, GCC bond and sukuk issuance reached $116.8 billion in the first half of 2026, up 14.3 per cent year-on-year, led by strong bond growth from both sovereigns and corporates even as sukuk volumes fell. Kamco expects 2026 to be a record year for conventional bond issuance globally, with the GCC continuing to lean into elevated financing needs — driven by sizeable maturities, government deficit financing amid softer oil revenues, and infrastructure-linked debt tied to crude logistics diversification.
The key risk to the outlook, Kamco notes, is a re-escalation of Middle East geopolitical tensions, which could delay foreign-currency issuance and widen credit spreads across the region.
Associate Editor Somshankar Bandyopadhyay brings more than three decades of experience to the KT newsroom. Currently, he manages the news production of the business section, ensuring that the top economic and business news of the day reaches its readers.