RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s traded debt value surged 62 percent to reach SR4 billion ($1.1 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the previous three months, according to the newly released Debt Market Report. The Kingdom’s debt market, which trades interest-paying loans in the form of sukuk and bonds, hit its largest volume in almost two years in the final quarter of last year. The trade volume witnessed the highest value since the first quarter of 2021, when SR14 billion of listed sukuk and bonds were recorded. As for the Kingdom’s unlisted sukuk and bonds traded value, it surged to SR5.4 billion compared to SR1.9 billion in the third quarter of 2022. The debt market’s number of transactions executed during that period totaled 4,236 trades compared to 525 trades in the third quarter, showing a 707 percent increase. The aggregate size of listed issuances modestly rose by 2.75 percent to reach SR 525.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. On the other hand, the total number of issuances showed a 3.9 percent drop reaching 74 sukuk and bonds compared to 77 issuances in the third quarter. By the end of last year, the sukuk and bond market index closed at 929.72 points compared to 956.46 points for the previous three months, falling by 2.8 percent quarter-on-quarter. In addition, Saudi Arabia’s government further developed its debt market through the issuance of green bonds and sukuk in 2022. Despite the annual 14 percent drop in the global sales of new green and sustainable bonds and sukuk last year, the Gulf Cooperation Council economies set a new record with Saudi Arabia in the lead, according to Bloomberg data. As banks and government-related entity participation increased, the GCC green bond and sukuk issuance hit $8.5 billion from 15 deals, up from $605 million from six deals the year before. The Kingdom was the leading issuer within the GCC region, accounting for more than half of the total volume, with the UAE accounting for the remaining issue volume.