Qatar is ready to sell its first green bond and first external deal of any kind in four years soon, according to the Gulf state’s finance minister.

'We’re ready to do it very soon,' Ali Al-Kuwari told Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos. 'We are not hungry for money but it will be mainly to send a strong statement' about the need to counter climate change.

The country recently finalised a green-finance framework to ensure it meets the requirements for issuing green bonds, which typically fund projects meant to reduce carbon and other planet-warming emissions.

Qatar, one of the world’s biggest producers of liquefied natural gas, hasn’t issued Eurobonds since early 2020. Back then, it sold $10 billion of five-, 10- and 30-year debt.

The government is rated AA by S&P Global Ratings, just two steps below the highest-possible level. It’s dollar bonds yield 4.92 per cent on average, according to Bloomberg indexes, one of the lowest levels in emerging markets.