Global sukuk issuance set to remain stable in 2018: Moody's

Global sukuk issuance is expected to reach $90-100 billion in 2018, in line with 2017 levels, Moody's Investors Service said in a report on Tuesday.

The expectation of broadly stable issuance for the year - despite a 12 percent decrease to $55 billion in the first half of 2018 - is supported by regular issuance from government and corporate entities in Malaysia and Indonesia in the second half of 2018, the agency added in the report.

Moody's also noted that the launch in July 2018 of a primary dealers programme for government sukuk in Saudi Arabia, and the start of sukuk trading on the Turkish stock exchange in August 2018, are supportive for the market.

The decrease in sukuk issuances during the first half of 2018 was driven by lower volumes in the GCC region, it said.

"Over the long term, we expect sukuk issuance volumes to continue to grow as governments across the core Islamic finance markets shift their financing mix towards a combination of conventional and Islamic instruments," Nitish Bhojnagarwala, Vice President and Senior Credit Officer at Moody's, said.