Qatar will sell four billion riyals ($1.1bn) worth of three-year and five-year bonds and sukuk, its state news agency said yesterday. Qatar's central bank will offer local banks 3bn riyals worth of bonds and 1bn riyals worth of Shariah-compliant notes, Qatar News Agency said. The local currency issues will take place quarterly, it said, without specifying how much of each maturity would be sold. In January the International Monetary Fund's mission chief for Qatar said the objective behind an issuance would be to build a domestic sovereign yield curve. Qatar has issued local currency bonds before. In January 2011, the central bank issued a 50bn-riyals, three-year bond directly to local banks as a step to drain excess money from the banking system. In recent months, Qatar-related debt denominated in dollars has drawn strong demand from international investors, majority state-owned Qatar Telecom saw heavy bids for a $1bn bond sale in January. Gulf Daily News

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