IslamicFinance.de

Hong Kong's government is trying to maintain the territory's momentum toward becoming an Islamic finance centre, as other potential sukuk issuers show little enthusiasm. In September, Hong Kong made the first U.S. dollar-denominated sukuk issue by an AAA-rated government, a $1 billion (£636.3 million) deal that put it on the map in the global competition among banking centres to attract Islamic finance business. Since then, however, there have been few if any signs of other sukuk issuers emerging in Hong Kong - demonstrating that however hard governments try, they may struggle to develop Islamic finance sectors if a strong economic rationale is absent.