Sukuk will fund domestic projects
Plans at ‘advanced stages’
Budget law created opportunity
Algeria intends to issue its first sovereign Islamic bonds or sukuk next month to fund infrastructure and other domestic projects, according to an official.
Arrangements for the first such issue by have reached “very advanced stages”, said Ruzaika Mikatli, director of the public debt office at the Algerian finance ministry, according to the Al-Khabr newspaper.
“We hope that this process will be completed before the end of June. We have instructions from the high authorities in the country to accelerate this process,” Mikatli told parliament on Wednesday, the newspaper said.
Mikatli said that the 2025 budget law allows the finance ministry to issue sukuk for the first time in Algeria to enable citizens and foreigners to fund local projects.
She said a committee created by the finance ministry and other relevant establishments is working to issue “simple Ijarah sukuk” on the grounds they are the most common and easiest to understand for professionals and citizens alike.
Algeria is not rated by any of the big three credit ratings agencies. Traditionally it finances its budget deficits by issuing conventional interest-bearing bonds known as Obligations Assimilables du Tresor, or OATs, with maturities of seven, 10 and 15 years.
