Saudi Arabia is preparing to sell sovereign debt on the bond markets in an effort to plug holes in its burgeoning budget deficit.

Riyadh has approached a number of banks to organize the sale telling them that they should expect an issue of “significant” size.

Saudi Arabia is the latest country in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to raise foreign money in this way. The kingdom is eager to move away from spending its sizeable foreign currency reserves shore up its expensive, welfare-hungry domestic budgets. The country has had to contend with a sharp fall in the revenues it generates from oil sales because of the global supply glut and its refusal to cut its own crude oil output to boost prices.

GCC member, Abu Dhabi raised $5 billion in a Eurobond sale in recent weeks while Qatar is wooing investors ahead of a potential deal which would represent its first bond issuance in 5 years.

Since the rout in oil prices began to bite, Riyadh has been utilizing its considerable foreign currency reserves in addition to selling bonds to local banks.

“We don’t think the Saudis really expected it to take this long to put the high cost shale oil producers in the US and other countries out of business but their efforts are starting to bear fruit if the number of US oil drilling rigs in operation are anything to go by,” said Tony Harris, Senior Vice President of Equity Trading at Softbank CIBC International.

The bond sale will come soon after the country secured its first $10 billion loan facility last month.

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