*Majed Al-Khalidi from Riyadh
The value of the bond and sukuk market traded since the beginning of the year jumped to 859%, compared to last year 2017, after the inclusion of government debt instruments, which were traded in early April.
According to an analysis of the unit of reports in the newspaper "AlEqtisadiah" that was based on data Tadawul, the value of this market rose to SR 267.5 million compared to the last full year, which was about SAR 27.9 million only.
About 24 deals have been executed since the beginning of the year until yesterday's session, the highest level of deals in seven years, while only eight deals were made in 2017.
About transactions, 23 transactions took place on government debt instruments amounting to 257.34 million riyals, while transactions on sukuk and corporate bonds amounted to one deal worth 10.12 million riyals, which is reflecting the impact and attractiveness of the introduction and circulation of government debt instruments during the last period.
Current issues are comprised of 62 issues, five of which are for companies and 57 are government issues that consists of 24 Sukuk and 33 fixed and variable issue bonds.
On the other hand, the number of Sukuk holders and bonds listed in Saudi Arabia are 59 owners that worth 266.34 billion riyals by the end of the third quarter of this year, while the owners were about 52 only by the end of 2017.
The owners of sukuk and bonds are divided into several sections, including government and semi-government companies, funds including GCC funds, and individuals.
The highest in value were companies with 34 companies owning sukuk and bonds that worth SR 180.5 billion, equivalent to 67.7 per cent of the total, which is followed by funds with 18 funds holding bonds and bonds that worth 19.7 billion riyals, which accounted for 7.4 percent.
After that comes government agencies and semi-government number of five parties with bonds and bonds worth 66 billion riyals and by 24.8 per cent.
The last section is individuals with two individuals holding sukuk and bonds that worth 107 million riyals.
Bonds and sukuks are an important financing channel used by governments, companies and institutions to provide liquidity to finance their projects at relatively low cost.
These bonds and sukuks provide protection to investors' portfolios by providing them with the ability to diversify risk by providing less risky investment instruments and a safe return.
Sukuk and bonds are traded on the market through licensed brokerage firms, using the same investment portfolios used for stock trading.
