The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has rejected all bids for the five-year Government of Pakistan (GoP) Ijarah Sukuk at an auction conducted on the 15th of April 2020. According to the SBP, the auction received bids worth PKR 176.897 billion against an auction target of PKR 75 billion at a range of margin between -225 to +25 basis points (bps) over the benchmark rate.  It is also worth noting that the Monetary Policy Committee of SBP had reduced the policy rate by 200 bps on the 16th of April 2020. According to local news repor...

Despite COVID-19 causing severe disruptions to businesses in Malaysia, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SCM) anticipates growth in the country’s corporate Sukuk and bond issuances for 2020.  The SCM expects total corporate issuances to come in between MYR 90 billion to MYR 100 billion in 2020, compared to total corporate issuances of MYR 132.82 billion recorded in 2019.  The Deputy Chief Executive (DCE) of the SCM, Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin, stated that given the large pool of demand coming in for Shariah-compliant investment products, the SCM expect...

In its 2019 Annual Report (Report), the Securities Commission Malaysia (SCM) reported that Malaysia’s Islamic Capital Market (ICM) grew 8.23% YoY to MYR 2.035 trillion at the end of 2019 and represented 63.57% of Malaysia’s total capital market. The Report stated that Sukuk issuances for 2019 comprised 77.09% of the total corporate issuances, and was valued at MYR 102.39 billion. Meanwhile, the Islamic assets under management (AUM) accounted for 21.93% of the fund management industry and stood at MYR 180.52 billion at the end ...

Takaful Retirement Annuity Plan in Malaysia: An Investigation on Consumers’ Perceived Value and Knowledge Mediated by AttitudeHibah, Islamic banking, Sukuk, Takaful, General Takaful

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) became the first Islamic Bank to successfully enable blockchain in trade finance distribution transactions. ADIB’s partnership with TradeAssets, a trade finance e-marketplace powered by blockchain technology, facilitated the cross-border transactions which were completed with multiple based banks. TradeAssets assists in digitizing the conventional process of origination and distribution of financial assets. The Global Head of Transaction Banking at ADIB, Haytham Elmaayergi said&nb...

BIMB Investment management, a fully owned subsidiary of Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, has launched a Robo-Intelligence based online platform for Sustainable Shariah-ESG investment, named BEST Invest. The BEST Invest mobile app offers a range of BIMB Investment’s Shariah-ESG unit trust funds, covering diverse asset classes including global equities Sukuk and money market, among others. Investors can seek assistance from the platform to generate an optimal portfolio using data and analytics, to suit their financial goals and risk tolera...

 A report issued by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) cited that the travel and tourism sector in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies amounted to USD 245 billion in 2019, representing nearly seven million jobs in the region (8.8 percent of the total employed population). The breakdown of overall tourism spending in the Middle East in 2019 was split between leisure and business travel as 83 percent and 17 percent respectively. According to the report, Saudi Arabia further rec...

A 4.3 percent drop is expected in Egypt’s current account balance for 2020, followed by a 4.5 percent fall in 2021, as per projections made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A key indicator of a country’s economic status, the current account balance is defined as the sum of the balance of trade (goods and services exports minus imports), net income from overseas, and net current transfers. Furthermore, the IMF forecasts a 7.7 percent drop in Egypt’s fiscal balance, over 2020. Year-on-year Inflation is expected to be 4.9 percent during 2020...

The  International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its April 2020 World Economic Outlook report, cited that  Nigeria’s economy is set to face its worst recession in 30 year, given the devastating economic impact caused by the Coronavirus.  The country’s GDP is projected to recede by 3 percent in 2020.  In 2016, Nigeria recorded a negative economic growth of 1.51 percent. In years 1987 and 1991, the country’s economic growth was at negative 10.87 percent and negative 0.6 percent, respectively.  The I...

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates world oil demand to drop by 9.3 barrels per day, in 2020, primarily considering the economic disruption caused by the Coronavirus. April 2020 has been identified as the month likely to be worst affected. The IEA has termed it as ‘Black April’ for the energy market, where oil demand is projected to fall to its lowest since 1995.  Crude oil prices have fallen by over 60 percent since the beginning of 2020. Prices were already on a downward trend ...