Sukuk is a bond not a mall

Research Primer: Islamic Bonds (Sukuk) – via Research Recap – 15 August 08

The International Monetary Fund has issued a guide to Islamic bonds, aimed primarily at sovereign debt managers, but helpful to anyone interested in learning more about this growing sector of the credit market.

The sukuk market has expanded dramatically over the recent past and continues to generate strong interest by new issuers in Muslim and non-Muslim countries alike.

The IMF report can be accessed at Islamic Bond Issuance-What Sovereign Debt Managers Need to Know. It’s a far cry from when I first worked on Islamic real estate investing in the U.S. nearly twenty years ago and you could get away with a fatwa that allowed debt as long as the intent was to use interest deductions from taxable income to “deny revenue to an infidel government.”