Qatar’s QR25bn worth sukuk to mature soon - The Peninsula Qatar

Qatar’s QR25bn worth sukuk to mature soon - The Peninsula Qatar:

"Almost half of Qatar’s outstanding sukuk, worth of over QR25bn, will mature in 2018. This accounts for 44 percent of the value of sukuk outstanding at the end of 2016. With the ongoing growth of Shariah-compliant institutions, new issuances are vital in helping them invest excess funds in a way that generates income. If no sukuk are issued in the country to replace the maturing ones, Shariah-compliant investors might look to other sukuk investments outside Qatar, a joint market study by the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), Thomson Reuters and Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) has revealed. There are also chances of new investors from Europe and Asia, who are likely to indifferent to Shariah-compliance of their investment holdings of shifting their investments to bonds or other asset classes in Qatar once their sukuk investments mature, to retain exposure to the Qatari market. According to the research note, retail sukuk remains an untapped segment in most of the countries in GCC. Qatar can capitalise on selling sukuk to the retail market to promote both the primary and secondary capital market. Issuers can find favourable conditions when issuing sukuk to the retail market, as they are able to find slightly cheaper pricing, with interest rates offered to the retail segment potentially lower than what institutional investors demand. Competitive pricing for retail sukuk is the result of limited investment options available to retail in Islamic financial markets, other than savings accounts and fixed deposits."



'via Blog this'