Abu Dhabi, one of the world’s richest states, is rapidly emerging as the debt capital of the region, producing a flurry of multi-billion dollar bond sales.

Abu Dhabi’s government was the first this year to tap the international debt markets in April, which established a fresh yield curve to ease pricing, and triggered a flood of issuance from state-linked entities. The emirate and its companies have issued more than $12bn of bonds in 2009, and bankers say billions more are in the pipeline.