Yemen may issue sukuk to fund oil product imports

Yemen's government may issue a local-currency Islamic bond this year to finance its imports of petroleum products, its central bank governor Mohammed Awad bin Hamam said. The sukuk could be worth about 50 billion Yemeni rials ($233 million) and use a salam structure. The interest rate is expected to be around 10 percent, with a maturity of three or five years. Yemen's recovery plans are heavily dependent on foreign aid, but the recovery is fragile. The International Monetary Fund expected Yemen's gross domestic product to grow around 6 percent this year.