Egyptian Expats In France Offer To Invest US$1 Bln In Sukuk

Egyptian expatriates in France offered to invest US$ one billion in Egypt’s debut sukuk issuance, said Ahmed El-Naggar, adviser to the Ministry of Finance and the one responsible for sukuk.

Egyptian patriots in France were ready to donate US$ one billion to save Egypt’s economy, but the Finance Ministry rejected such offer and told them to invest such funds in sukuk, he added.

He affirmed that the marketing campaign for sukuk has succeeded as many have became interested to invest in the instrument especially Egyptian expatriates in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Arab Gulf countries. Sukuk targets to attract mainly the funds of Egyptian expatriates which are valued at US$ 200 billion. The sukuk also targets to attract funds from international financial institutions, unofficial sector and Islamic banks.

The Finance Ministry met with a number of international institutions and banks which offered to provide Egypt with the required technical support such as Crédit Agricole, CitiBank UAE, Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas, HSBC, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and the Islamic Development Bank which stated it is ready to invest US$ 6 billion in Egypt’s sukuk during three years.