Egypt’s Senate to discuss sovereign sukuk law today

Egypt’s upper house Senate will begin debate on Monday on the newly-drafted sovereign sukuk (bonds) law.

The law – drafted and approved by the Cabinet in November 2020 – includes 24 articles in six sections, covering the role of the Ministry of Finance and other government entities in the issuance and use of proceeds, shariah compliance, and taxes imposed on the securities among others.

The new law aims to help improve the state’s financial performance and achieve the short and long-term objectives of covering the budget deficit.

“This comes through cutting the debt servicing bill, creating new tools for covering the budget deficit, diversifying sources of finance, and stimulating demand on government-issued financial securities,” a report prepared by the Senate’s economic and financial affairs committee said.

It added that “in this context the new law was drafted to allow the Ministry of Finance to issue sovereign bonds (Sukuk) to raise capital necessary for spending on economic and investment projects targeted by the state budget and development plan.”

“the sovereign bonds (Sukuk) is a new kind of government financial securities that go in line with Islamic sharia and aims to attract Egyptian and foreign investors who abstain from investing in traditional financial and debt servicing securities currently on the market.” the report read.

The report suggested that sovereign bonds have become a very attractive investment tool on world market in recent years.

“Investments in sovereign bonds (Sukuk) generated as much as $2.7 trillion in recent years and most of them come from countries like Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Britain, the UAE, Turkey, and Bahrain,”

According to the report, “sovereign bonds (Sukuk) are almost non-existent on the Egyptian market though there is no reason for not tapping this investment tool as long as the economic environment is friendly and as long as it can serve the state’s economic objectives.”