Indonesia plans to raise the equivalent of almost $2 billion in combined yen- and dollar-denominated Islamic bonds later this year as part of its efforts to plug a widening budget deficit.
Southeast Asia’s largest economy plans sell $750 million of so-called samurai bonds and $1 billion of US-currency bonds, both of them sukuk, in October. “The figures and timing are still moving,” Robert Pakpahan, acting chief of the debt management office at the Finance Ministry, said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Islamic bond market has surged in the first half of this year as issuers tap demand for long-term paper at record low levels. Issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bond-like instruments, this year is expected to reach record levels of anything up to $126bn, more than three times the 2007 level of $38bn.
Nigel Denison, head of markets and wealth management, Bank of London and The Middle East (BLME), said: “A lot of GCC investors are bringing money back to the domestic market. In part this is driven by the Eurozone crisis, but it is also due to the attractions of the region as an investment destination – its huge wealth, its young population and lack of sovereign debt.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Qatar Gas Transport Co (Nakilat), the world’s largest shipper of liquefied natural gas (LNG), signed a $380 million murabaha-structured Islamic loan, a statement from one of the banks providing the finance said on Sunday.
Qatar Islamic Bank provided $180 million of the facility, the bank said in a bourse filing. Qatar International Islamic Bank provided the remainder of the cash. No other details of the deal were provided………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Stock Exchange officially launches the NSE Lotus Islamic Index (NSE LII) which consists of companies whose business practices are in conformity with the principles of Shari’ah. Sunday Trust looks at the necessity of the index.
In a bid to attract Sharia/ethical investors to Nigeria’s budding stock market, Islamic wealth manager Lotus Capital and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday launched a debut index of NSE-listed companies that comply with Islamic investment principles………………………………………..Full Article: Source

NCB has been supporting Tibah consortium for Madina International Airport. Besides providing bulk of financing, NCB is the Islamic Structuring Bank in this landmark deal. This is the first Islamically structured International Airport financing in the world. Shari’ah compliant financing is primarily asset-based. However critical infrastructure such as airports are essentially owned by governments. The private entities only receive development and operating rights for a finite period. This made the Islamic structuring all the more challenging. Despite these constraints, an unprecedented structure is designed to ensure its compliance with shariah and maintaining the project’s bankability for the sponsors at the same time.
“NCB is committed to supporting the Kingdom’s infrastructure development. Besides leading Islamic finance in other segments, I am glad NCB also maintains its leadership position in shari’ah complaint Infrastructure financing,” said Corporate Sector Head Al Sharief Khalid. (Press Release)

Bahrain-based Islamic lender Al Baraka Banking Group posted a 13% rise in quarterly net income, the bank said yesterday, boosted by growth in its lending operations. The bank, which has operations across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, made a net attributable profit of $38mn for the second quarter, compared with $34mn in the same period of 2011.
The rise was helped by an equal percentage increase in total operating income, which rose to $206mn in the second quarter over the year-ago period………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The continuing volatility in bond and equity markets combined with the uncertainty surrounding the Eurozone has opened up the Islamic finance industry to a new segment of potential investors looking to diversify away from their traditional investments.
High net worth investors and their wealth advisers are primarily concerned in the current environment with wealth preservation, and many are looking to reduce their exposures to the Eurozone and to conventional financial institutions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic finance industry — which is growing rapidly in some areas, such as debt issuance — is neglecting merchandise trade, leaving trade finance for conventional banks to dominate.
When the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce held its regional meeting in Qatar in March, for example, a five-day agenda devoted just 30 minutes to Islamic finance………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The invitation by Sudan for Malaysia to set up Islamic banks in that country has proven that the world has recognised Malaysia as an Islamic financial centre and hub. Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said the government however has to discuss the invitation with the banks involved.
“With regards to the request from Sudan, we have to discuss the matter with the banks on whether they are ready to go to Sudan or not,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Islamic banking is a growing phenomenon and Kenya was the first country to introduce the trend in East and Central Africa. It already has two fully fledged shariah compliant banks.……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Fleishman-Hillard International Communications recenlty launched a specialist offering dedicated to engagement with the vast and globally dispersed Muslim consumer market.
Called Majlis — an Arabic term referring to an assembly for dialogue — the firm’s new communications initiative has released a white paper entitled “The Next Billion, The Market Opportunity of the Muslim World,” in which authors Yusuf Hatia and Dr Paul Temporal point out that companies are overlooking a vista of opportunity presented by a diverse world population of nearly 1.8 billion Muslim consumers………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Arab youth unemployment is a complex and multidimensional problem. It requires modern and new innovative strategies to find practicable solutions to this social ill. Saad Al-Harran highlights the current social and political upheavals in the Arab world and examines the importance of investing in new business ideas and the significant of external mentoring from the talented Arab entrepreneurs in the West.
Although Arab states have spent millions of dollars modernizing their education system but these expenditures were not well spent. Sadly, it is wrongly channeled mostly towards building construction of many schools, colleges and universities without proper investment in human capital………………………………………..Full Article: Source