Saudi Arabia sets record with mammoth $17.5 billion bond issue

By Davide Barbuscia and Sudip Roy DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia conducted the largest-ever emerging market bond sale on Wednesday, selling $17.5 billion of debt in the government's first international offer while attracting investor orders totaling almost four times that amount. London-based Capital Economics estimated the U.S. dollar issue would finance around a third of next year’s state budget deficit and almost all of the kingdom's current account gap, meaning its foreign excha