RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s National Debt Management Center has closed its riyal-denominated sukuk program issuance for September with a total bid amount of SR2.45 billion ($650 billion), down 29 percent compared to August. NDMC had closed the August sukuk issuance at SR3.5 billion, which represented a significant increase from July when the issuance stood at SR2.63 billion. According to the NDMC statement, the total amount of bids received was SR8.76 billion. The September sukuk issuance was divided into two tranches. The first tranche was valued at SR1.03 billion which is set to mature in 2030, while the second tranche has a size of SR1.42 billion, maturing in 2033. “This issuance confirms the NDMC’s statement on the mid of February 2023, that NDMC will continue, in accordance with the approved Annual Borrowing Plan, to consider additional funding activities subject to market conditions and through available funding channels locally or internationally,” said the organization in the statement. Sukuk, which is also called an Islamic bond, is a debt product issued in accordance with Shariah or Islamic laws. NDMC added: “This is to ensure the Kingdom’s continuous presence in debt markets and manage the debt repayments for the coming years while taking into account market movements and the government debt portfolio risk management.” In August, NDMC took a strategic step to restructure SR35.7 billion of debt instruments into four new sukuk tranches featuring longer-term maturities in 2024, 2025 and 2026. At that time NDMC revealed that the step was taken to strengthen the domestic money market and keep up with its developments. Earlier this month, a report released by Moody’s Investors Service revealed that global sukuk issuances are expected to decline in 2023, ranging between $150 billion and $160 billion, from $178 billion in 2022, driven by improving fiscal positions of sovereign issuers in the Gulf Cooperation Council region and South East Asia. Moody’s noted that sukuk issuances in the first half of 2023 declined by 28 percent to $66 billion, compared to $92 billion in the same period of the previous year.