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Launched in 2017 with the aim to diversify funding, the Saudi finance ministry had planned to raise US$31.5 billion of Sukuk in 2019. A new ‘primary dealer’ scheme for local-currency government sukuk was launched in 2018, under which five local banks buy the sukuk directly from the government and then make a market by quoting two-way prices to other investors. Additionally, Saudi regulators introduced a number of incentives in 2019 for corporate sukuk issuers and investors to encourage further issuances. Lower regulator fees and zero tax/zakat on investments in domestic sovereign sukuk also promise a more active and liquid secondary market.

Since the issuance of the first modern sukuk in 1996, cumulative issuance of sukuk has crossed the US$ 1 trillion mark. As of the end of 2018, outstanding sukuk were valued at US$ 469.7 billion across 2,887 sukuk. The Saudi and Malaysian governments were the largest issuers in 2018, at US$ 17.1 billion and US$ 13.9 billion. Malaysia maintained its lead position in terms of issuances, boosted by the return of short-term murabaha sukuk from Bank Negara Malaysia. The central bank resumed sukuk issuances after a three-year hiatus. It issued US$16.1 billion in shortterm sukuk during the second half of 2018.

Indonesia raised $1.25bn as the world’s first sovereign green sukuk. The country's latest sukuk was priced at a yield of 3.75% and has a tenure of 5 years. Non-Sovereign Malaysian organisations have previously issued green sukuk, most recently with two issuances in 2017. Indonesia also raised US$1.75 billion via a 10-year sukuk sold at the same time as the green issuance. The non-green sukuk was sold at a coupon rate of 4.4%. Globally, $155.5 billion of green bonds were sold last year, according to the London-based Climate Bonds Initiative.

Chinese state-owned bank the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has become the first Chinese bank to help arrange a dollar based sukuk. ICBC helped arrange Pakistan’s recent $1 billion 5 year Sukuk. Pakistan raised over $8 billion for its dual issuance of sukuk and a conventional Eurobond of $1.5 billion. China is building stronger trade ties with Asian countries under its "One Belt, One Road" strategy to rebuild Silk Road trade links with Asia and Europe. Additionally, the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a collection of infrastructure projects that are currently under construction throughout Pakistan. The value of CPEC projects is worth $62 billion and provides China with a vital route to the Arabian Sea for trade routes to the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Global sukuk market resumed positive strides in 2016 after three years of consecutive decline. The sukuk market also witnessed an important shift where corporate issuers dominated the market in 2016 with USD47.3 billion volume of issuance, representing a share of 63.2%. This is in contrast to historical trends where issuance was driven largely by sovereigns. Overall, sukuk issuer profile remained similar to historical trends. Malaysia continued to be the main driver for sukuk issuance, commanding a market share of 46.4% of total issuances, followed by Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), accounting for 9.9% and 9.0% share. Elsewhere, Turkey recorded a notable rise in sukuk issuance at USD4.1 billion for the year, supported by a number sovereign issuances with maturity ranging from one to five years. The year 2016 also witnessed issuances from Senegal, Jordan, Ivory Coast and Kuwait.

A Riyal denominated Sukuk has been issued by the Saudi International Petrochemical Company. The company announced the successful completion of the issuance amounting to SAR 1.0 bn on June 16, 2016. The Sukuk was priced at 235 bps over six months SAIBOR for tenor of five years maturing on June 16, 2021. Riyadh Capital and NCB Capital helped to arrange the private issuance.
In the hard currency space, the Commercial Bank of Qatar issued a Eurobond which achieved the tightest spread for a MENA financial institution this year, conventional or Sukuk.
Whilst the issuance was not a Sukuk, demand for bond indicates strong investor appetite, a good sign of market demand which is likely to be tested with several large planned issuances post Ramadan. Most eagerly anticipated is a potential sovereign issuance by Saudi Arabia, as well as by Aramco, the Saudi national oil giant.

In the USD sukuk pipeline, DP World and Noor Bank have selected banks for a possible benchmark issuance. Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek mentioned plans of an issuance within 1H16. Bloomberg Malaysia Sukuk Ex-MYR Total Return (BMSXMTR) and Dow Jones Sukuk Total Return (DJSUKTXR) indices closed lower at 103.55 (-0.26%) and 159.18 (-0.44%) respectively. Malaysia’s revenue fell slightly to MYR1.54bn (-0.7%) in 2015 while income tax revenue increased by 7.8%. Turkey's unemployment rate declined to 10.9% and its government budget balance improved to TRY5.36bn in April. Indonesia’s trade balance rose to USD667m in April mainly due to the larger than expected decline in imports.

The International Islamic Liquidity Management (IILM) has successfully issued a $1.34 bn short-term Sukuk at a profit rate of 1.046%. The Sukuk rated A-1 by Standard and Poor’s will be issued on 24 May and has a maturity of 90 days. ILM sells its Sukuk through its primary dealers, who consist of: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, AlBaraka Turk, CIMB Islamic Bank, Luxembourg’s KBL Private Bankers, Kuwait Finance House, Maybank Islamic, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Qatar National Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Barwa Bank.

Turkiye Finans announced plans for a EURO denominated Sukuk. This represents the first Euro denominated Sukuk in Turkey, though a number of US Dollar Sukuk have been issued previously, most recently by Turkish subsidiary of Kuwait Finance House (Kuveyt Turk) which issued a $350 million Sukuk in February 2016. Kuveyt Turk also recently issued an innovative CPI linked Sukuk, which illustrates a maturing market in Turkey.

Sukuk linked to Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate will provide investors protection against rising inflation in Turkey. The short term sukuk, known as rental certificates in Turkey was issued with a maturity of 729 days. The issue was subscribed by means of a private placement at a profit rate of 3.39 % above the CPI rate.

The U.S. dollar-denominated Shariah compliant perpetual sukuk issuance is believed to be the first sukuk to be included within the Additional Tier 1 capital resources of a bank in the United States. Linklaters LLP has advised University Bank on its sukuk issuance in the United States. This is believed to be the first sukuk to be governed by the laws of the United States, in this case, the laws of the State of New York. The sukuk is limited to an annual profit rate of 5.75% and has no maturity date. University Bank, a subsidiary of University Bancorp Inc., is a community bank which specialises in Islamic banking and mortgage subservicing for the credit union industry.

Short term Sukuk rated A-1 by Standard and Poor’s Rating Services (S&P’s) have been issued by the International Islamic Liquidity Management (IILM). The 3 month sukuk for $860 was issued at a profit rate of 0.63960%. Orders for $980m were received. IILM sells its Sukuk through its primary dealers which were added to in this auction by Qatar Islamic Bank and Boubyan Bank. As at October 2015, the IILM Sukuk that have been issued and reissued amounted to USD12.69 billion.

Kyrgyzstan hopes to use Islamic finance to attract foreign investment. The Kyrgyz government approved the project on introduction of Sukuk, State Secretary Abduhalik Shamshiyev said at the board meeting of the State Service for Financial Market Regulation and Supervision. International law firm Simmons & Simmons and the Kyrgyz Republic signed an agreement in May 2014 to provide consultancy services for the development of laws and regulations, supporting the introduction of Takaful and Sukuk in the Kyrgyz Republic. The consultancy services were funded under a technical assistance grant provided by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

Short term Sukuk rated A-1 by Standard and Poor’s Rating Services (S&P’s) have been issued by the International Islamic Liquidity Management (IILM). IILM order book picks up from previous auction for A-1 rated (S&P) Sukuk. $490m issued from orders received of $1.288 Billion from 10 Bids. IILM sells its Sukuk through its primary dealers, who consist of: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, AlBaraka Turk, CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd, Luxembourg's KBL Private Bankers, Kuwait Finance House, Maybank Islamic Bhd, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Qatar National Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Barwa Bank.

This is Ras Al Khaimah's first sukuk issuance since October 2013, when the UAE emirate of Ras Al Khaimah sukuk was priced at 3.297% (MS+175bps) with a total of USD500m which garnered orders over USD5bn, which represents much stronger demand than the currently launched 10y sukuk. Also launching this week was the Emirates airlines sukuk which is to fund the orders for A380-800, as Emirates seeks USD107.5bn worth of aircrafts from Boeing and Airbus. This is the first time for UK Export Finance (UKEF) to guarantee a sukuk.

The structure of Sukuk through the creation of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) provides better transparency thereby reducing corruption and wastage as productive assets must be put to work in order to generate rental incomes for investors, rather than disappearing into offshore banking centres or participating in deliberately over priced projects. In its annual report, Transparency International ranks countries based on expert opinions of public sector corruption. Increased transparency can be used to inspire investor confidence and trust thus leading to increased foreign direct investment.

The International Islamic Liquidity Management (IILM) has successfully reissued USD990 million benchmark size short-term Sukuk. i) A USD490 million 3-month tenor priced at 0.56260% profit rate, which received total bids of $1.1 1 billion from 11 bids. ii) A USD500 million 6-month tenor priced at 0.78570% profit rate, which received total bids of just over $1 billion from 14 bids. The reissuance of USD990 million Sukuk auction was fully subscribed by IILM primary dealers. After a quiet start to 2015, Sukuk market activity picked up this week a short-term issuance by the Bahrain Central Bank and with announcements of upcoming issuances from Gulf Finance House, Qatar Islamic Bank, Indonesian national air carrier Garuda Indonesia, and the Islamic Development Bank.