The King Abdullah financial district in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia joins other oil exporters… Saudi Arabia launched the sale of $17.5 billion of debt on Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the deal, in what would be the largest emerging-market bond issue. It is the kingdom’s first international bond sale, a bid to support a sweeping effort to keep its economy afloat as oil income dwindles. The sale is the latest example of a Persian Gulf state turning to international markets to offset declining oil revenues. Other oil exporters from the Gulf region such as Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Abu Dhabi earlier this year raised $20 billion in total through international bond issues . The issue would exceed Argentina’s $16.5 billion debt sale earlier this year as the biggest from an emerging-market economy. Orders amounted to around $67 billion, one investor familiar with the deal said. The […]