Oman Fixed-Income Assets Rise to $13Bn by Q3

JEDDAH: Oman’s bond and sukuk market expanded nearly 16 percent in the first nine months of 2025, lifted by stronger institutional demand and ongoing regulatory reforms aimed at deepening the country’s fixed-income landscape. 

The market’s value rose to 4.98 billion rials ($12.9 billion) by the end of the third quarter, up from 4.31 billion rials at the end of 2024, the Oman News Agency reported, citing the Financial Services Authority. 

The gains reflect rising confidence in domestic capital markets and growing appetite for green and sustainable financing instruments, the report said. 

“The Capital Market Authority continues its efforts to develop Oman’s bond and sukuk market by strengthening policies and regulatory frameworks for these financial products and innovating long-term lending instruments linked to green and sustainable financing,” the ONA report stated. 

On the regulatory side, development in this sector has been reinforced through the enhanced framework for issuing bonds and sukuk, which provides a comprehensive structure governing public and private issuances, ensuring transparency, investor protection, and market confidence, as per ONA. 

The framework also supports new issuances, keeps pace with evolving debt instruments, and offers a flexible legislative structure that encourages innovation, including green and sustainable bonds, endowment sukuk, and other tailored products that meet financing needs while aligning with issuer and investor priorities. 

Omani investors continued to lead trading activity, with purchases totaling 43.6 million rials compared with 8.7 million rials by foreign investors, while Omani sales reached 43.9 million rials against 8.3 million rials by foreigners. 

Statistics on debt instruments by the end of the third quarter of 2025 show a clear concentration of ownership among Omani investors, who hold 4.75 billion rials, representing 97.2 percent of total ownership, while foreign investors hold approximately 137 million rials, or 2.8 percent. 

Mustafa bin Ahmed Salman, chairman and CEO of United Securities, said the rise in Oman’s bond and sukuk market, both on the Muscat Securities Market and globally, is driven by stronger demand following US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and expectations of further easing, which have boosted overall trading activity, particularly in fixed-income instruments. 

Speaking to ONA, Salman added that investor demand for bonds and sukuk is also supported by the current “instability in global financial markets.” 

He noted that rising bond and sukuk prices on the Muscat Securities Market are boosting listed companies’ shares, which differ from global counterparts by offering attractive returns even at higher prices, serving as an additional factor attracting more investors to the Muscat Securities Market.