The United Arab Emirates is not planning to issue a sovereign bond over the next two years, Finance Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum said on Tuesday.

Other senior finance ministry officials had previously been quoted as saying the UAE's debut sovereign bond could come at the end of 2012 and be about $1 billion.

Asked whether the country had any plans to issue a bond this year or in 2013, Sheikh Hamdan said: "No, we don't have."

He was speaking on the sidelines of an energy exhibition in Dubai. - Reuters