Turkish sukuk to inspire others

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

World Bank official Holieldi says the world sukuk market is far from its real potential. AA photo

Turkey’s successful sukuk – Islam-complaint bonds - issuance has paved the way for other countries, according to Mahmoud Mohieldi, a managing director at the World Bank, speaking at an Istanbul meeting yesterday.

“We witnessed a few weeks ago that Turkey had a successful sukuk issuance and the market received it very favorably. There was a good return. [This success] paved the way for not only Turkey, but also other countries, [to the sukuk market],” he said at a meeting jointly organized by the World Bank and the Insurance Education Center (Segem).

Mutual and Islamic insurance is quickly growing in the global market, Mohieldi said, adding that there were opportunities for the Islamic insurance to grow further as the market is still in the start-up phase. The market may hit $12 billion in 2012, while total Islamic assets have reached a total size of $1.3 trillion, he said.