VOL XL

No. 02

13-January-1997

SAUDI ARABIA

SAMA Issues Floating Rate Notes

As an alternative to its regular sales of 3- and5-year Government Development Bonds (GDBs), the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) hasstarted to issue Floating Rate Notes (FRNs) at its bi-weekly auctions of government paper.According to bankers in the Kingdom, the first offering of 5-year FRNs took place at theauction on Saturday 28 December and was substantially oversubscribed. SAMA usually offersSR1.5bn ($400mn) of GDBs...