Dubai: Damac Real Estate’s sukuk listing on the market in the coming two days will escalate the total value of sukuk on Dubai’s stock markets to $19.67 billion (Dh72.2 billion), according to Essa Kazim, Chairman of the DIFC Authority Board of Directors.
“In the coming two days, Damac will list sukuk worth $665 million, which will increase the total value of sukuk listed in Nasdaq Dubai and Dubai Financial Market (DFM),” Kazim, who is also the Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee of Islamic Economy, said at a media briefing on the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre on Monday.
Earlier this month, Damac announced its plan for a $500 million sukuk. The size of the issue was expanded to $665 million from the originally planned $500 million. The total book value exceeded $2.8 billion shortly before issuances.
Kazim added that the total value of Dubai sukuk listed in the first quarter of 2014 stood at $6.5 billion.
“There is a remarkable increase in the number of international investors [holding] Dubai sukuk due to the government’s support and efforts to fulfil the Dubai Islamic Economy Strategy,” he said. “It will be an added value to Dubai’s overall economy.”
Dubai’s Global Sukuk Centre was launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in February 2013 as part of the 46 initiatives of the Dubai Islamic Economy Strategy.
These initiatives will be in place by the first quarter of 2014 or at the latest by the fourth quarter of 2014.
Many of these initiatives have been launched already, such as the Dubai Global Sukuk Centre, the Dubai Centre for Islamic Finance, the Global Islamic Economy Summit and Islamic Economy Award and the Halal Cluster.
The remaining initiatives will be launched over the next three years, said Abdullah Mohammad Al Awar, CEO of the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre.
“We have to work harder with our stakeholders in the private sector [as they] can play [a] very significant role in enabling these initiatives,” he said.
Al Awar said that the centre will be working to streamline this process on a daily basis.
“Our main role is to monitor, evaluate and assist the process of these initiatives as well as to find out relative ideas that support the Dubai Islamic Economy Strategy,” he said
Al Awar said that they are not the only body to propose new initiatives that serve the Dubai Islamic Economy Strategy, but said the door is open to everyone, especially the private sector.
“We are not working from a closed-book [perspective], other bodies can propose new ideas and we are here to evaluate any of those ideas,” he added.
Dubai’s strategy to be the capital of the Islamic economy in two years was launched last year and is based on seven pillars.
These pillars include the establishment of Dubai as an international centre for Islamic finance, Halal industries, Halal tourism, the Islamic digital economy, the capital of Islamic art and design, a centre for Islamic economy standards and certification, and an international centre for Islamic information and education.
