Abu Dhabi counters oil slump with $10bn bond sale

Second bond sale by the emirate since oil prices slumped in mid-2014

Abu Dhabi has raised $10 billion (8.5 billion euros) in a rare international bond sale, it said Tuesday, amid efforts by Gulf states to plug deficits caused by low oil prices

It was just the second bond sale by the emirate, which has the Gulf's largest sovereign wealth fund, since oil prices slumped in mid-2014

Abu Dhabi's finance department said the bonds were issued in three tranches maturing in five, 10 and 30 years, with interest ranging from 2.5 to just over four percent

The richest of seven sheikhdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi sits on the bulk of the federation's oil wealth

In May last year, it raised $5 billion with its first bond sale in seven years

Almost all the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council states, including OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, have resorted to debt markets to finance budget shortfalls since an oil price collapse slashed their revenues by hundreds of billions of dollars

Last week, Saudi Arabia raised $12.5 billion from an international bond sale