Kuwait bourse to return to debt listing and trade in 2025

The Kuwait Stock Exchange will restart listing and trading of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), sukuk and bonds in 2025, the bourse's CEO Mohammed Saud Al-Osaimi told reporters on Sunday.

The announcement comes months after Kuwait issued a long-awaited debt law to regulate public borrowing as the country prepares for a return to international debt markets after eight years of absence.

Kuwait needed the new law to mitigate its heavy dependence on oil revenues and reform the economy. But its passage was hampered for years by infighting between successive parliaments and cabinets.

The Kuwaiti bourse said on Saturday it has completed its IT infrastructure and testing to enable ETF, sukuk (Islamic finance certificates) and bond trading "in coordination with relevant authorities".

The CEO said the stock exchange is currently in talks with two family-owned businesses about potential listings and is also negotiating with a government agency to list a new state-owned company next year.