Global sukuk issuance hits $131bn in 2012

Total sukuk issuance in 2012 reached $131bn, an increase of 54 percent on the previous year, according to a new report by KFH-Research.

The report said that Malaysia and the ringgit continued to dominate the market of sovereign sukuk issuance while other top countries in sukuk issuance were Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Indonesia.

KFH-Research said sukuk issuances continued "at decent levels" in December closing off a "tremendous year" for the Islamic capital markets.

A total of $8.1bn was issued during the month, 61.7 percent higher than the same period of 2011.

Malaysia dominated the month in terms of amount issued, accounting for a 90.2 percent market share, while there were a distinct absence of sukuk from Indonesia and the UAE.

The report said Malaysia was domicile to 74 percent of all primary market issuances in 2012, followed by Saudi Arabia (eight percent), the UAE (4.7 percent) and Indonesia (4.6 percent).

Notable issuances during December included the SR1.9bn ($506.6m) sukuk issued by Banque Saudi Fransi, KFH-Research said.