Bangladesh-based Mercantile Bank (MB) has expanded its Shariah-compliant Islamic banking service named TAQWA with the launch of 15 more Islamic Banking Windows across the country, according to local media reports.  Md Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of MB virtually inaugurated the 15 new Islamic Banking Windows on the 28th of December 2020.  Local media reported that the MB branches that have newly commenced Islamic banking services include Gulshan Branch, Tejgaon-Gulshan Link Road Branc...

Malaysian property developer Mah Sing Group (Mah Sing) has announced the completion of its proposed redeemable convertible Sukuk Murabahah with the issuance of MYR 100 million worth of Sukuk on the 29th of December 2020, according to local media reports.  The convertible Sukuk Murabahah has a tenure of seven years with a fixed profit rate of 3% per annum, to be paid semi-annually. Earlier in September 2020, Mah Sing announced that the MYR 100 million Sukuk issuance was part of its MYR 1 billion Islamic Medium-Term Note (IMTN) programme, which allo...

The benchmark index from the Turkish Statistical Institute showed a decline in economic confidence levels for December 2020. According to the data, economic confidence levels declined to 86.4 points in December 2020 from 89.5 points a month earlier, down 3.5% month-on-month (MoM). The decline in December 2020 was led by a fall in sub-indices pertaining to the services, retail trade and construction industries, which recorded MoM contractions of 9.2%, 7.8% and 7.2%, respectively.  Consumer confidence remain...

Malaysia’s exports rose to MYR 84.43 billion in November 2020, up 4.3% year-on-year (YoY),  completing three consecutive months of YoY export growth, according to local media reports. The YoY growth recorded in November 2020 was also higher than the 0.2% YoY expansion in exports in October 2020. Exports out of Malaysia have shown a steady increase in 2020 following initial shocks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in April and May 2020, stated local media reports.  Data from Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) s...

Following a waiver of the fiscal deficit cap in 2020, the Government of Indonesia aims to lower the funding gap in 2021, according Febrio Kacaribu, Head of Fiscal Policy at the Ministry of Finance in Indonesia. This is in line with the Government’s target of restoring the fiscal deficit cap at 3.0% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2023.  According to local media, the Government used an emergency law to waive the deficit cap for 2020  due to COVID-19. This resulted in the widening of the 2020 deficit to an estimated 6.3% of GDP. Poli...

RAM Rating Services (RAM) has reaffirmed the AAA(bg)/Stable rating of securities issued under MUFG Bank (Malaysia) Berhad’s (MUFG Malaysia) USD 500 million Multi-Currency Sukuk Wakalah Bi Al-Istithmar Programme. Concurrently, RAM has reaffirmed MUFG Malaysia’s AA1/Stable/P1 financial institution ratings. The enhanced rating reflects a high likelihood of support from MUFG Malaysia’s parent company, MUFG Bank (rated AAA/Stable/P1 by RAM), which is Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s commercial banking arm, and Japan’s...

Bank of Maldives (BML) Islamic has announced the introduction of Shariah-compliant green financing facilities on the 27th of December 2020 for individuals and businesses in the Maldives that are looking to fund environmentally friendly projects including solar power generation or investments in energy-efficient products, according to local media reports.  Those eligible for the unsecured green financing options can obtain between MVR 50,000 – MVR 500,000 in financing without any additional security or equity contribution...

Nigeria’s Kastina State Government has announced on the 23rd of December 2020 that it is set to secure an NGD 55 billion Sukuk from the Islamic Development Bank with a seven-year maturity period for infrastructure developments, as reported by local media.  The announcement was made by Alhaji Kasim Mutallab, the Commissioner for Finance in Katsina State, who was addressing media on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting. According to Mutallab, Katsina State would be looking to undertake a seven-year bond with t...

Bangladesh’s debut issuance of BDT 40 billion Sukuk, part of the Bangladesh Government Islamic Investment Sukuk, has been oversubscribed by nearly four times to BDT 151.53 billion in its inaugural auction held on the 28th of December 2020, according to local media reports.  The Sukuk auction, which is the first of its kind in Bangladesh, was held by Bangladesh Bank (BB) in order to mobilise funds from financial institutions for the implementation of a safe water supply project. The first tranche of BDT 40 billion, is a part of the total BDT 80 billion Suku...

Data from Indonesia’s Central Statistics Agency 2019 showed that 80.07% of families own a house in the country, with 20% currently estimated to not have a home.  Given that people were demanding their own home and are now starting to show interest in Islamic financing, Indonesia’s Vice President has encouraged mortgage lending banks (KPR) to offer Shariah-financing solutions.  Speaking at a virtual focus group discussion titled ‘Encouraging National Econ...