WHEN Kenyan President William Ruto launched the listing of Kenya’s debut Sukuk Linzi at the bell ringing ceremony at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in August, it wasn’t a question of size that matters, but more about the symbolism of the gradual acceptance in continental Africa of sovereign Sukuk as an alternative cost-effective public debt fund-raising instrument – one of the few development finance products pioneered in the Global South.
The usual mantra by debt management offices at finance ministries is that Sukuk issuance is to diversify sources of funding, to finance government budget shortfalls, to deepen local capital markets, and to broaden the investor base for such products. To be fair to them this has been a mainstay of the global sovereign Sukuk market, albeit largely confined to investment…
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Cape Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 2024-09-03