By NNN-Bernama,
Dubai : Sukuk (Islamic bonds) worth 5.3 billion USD were issued globally in October, taking the total issued in the first 10 months of 2010 to 39 billion USD, according to data compiled by Zawya’s Sukuk Monitor.
Zawya’s senior sukuk analyst Adnan Halawi said here Wednesday that October was marked by a diversity of issuing countries, with major issues from Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Malaysia and Indonesia.
“Data from Zawya Sukuk Monitor show that sukuk in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC)is back on track and the rest of the world is warming up to the benefits of Islamic bonds,” he said in a statement.
The month concluded with Malaysia’s toll-road operator Konsortium Lebuhraya Utara-Timur (Kesturi) issuing an 820 million Ringgit (one USD = about 3.082 Ringgit) sukuk in the domestic market to redeem an existing sukuk.
The statement also alluded to Hewlett-Packard (HP) which initiated a maiden 100 million USD (RM310 million) sukuk via its Malaysian subsidiary, HP Multimedia Sdn Bhd, by signing an agreement with CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd to formalise the Islamic term financing facility agreement in Kuala Lumpur.
Halawi noted that governments continued to implement regulatory changes and tax amendments to facilitate the issuance of sukuk on the one hand, while countries where sukuk were already issued continued to introduce enhancements to secure a bigger share of the fast-growing Islamic finance industry.
Zawya also observed that in a bid to maintain its leadership position in the sector, Malaysian Islamic banks were said to be developing a local currency sukuk index to serve as a benchmark for syariah-compliant fixed income securities.
Also in Malaysia, the government planned to let issuers sell to individual investors sukuk that could be traded on the local stock exchange, according to the statement.
“Bursa Malaysia (operator of the Malaysian financial markets) is working with regulators on rules to enable companies to issue Islamic debt that would be affordable to the public,” it added.
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