• Saudi Arabia issued domestic sukuk worth SR7.1 billion ($1.9 billion) in January and plans to issue international sukuk in the second half of the year. The Kingdom is also considering a debut savings sukuk for retail investors – in addition to the regular monthly domestic sukuk auctions that it started in July 2017. • Qatar also already started issuing domestic sukuk in January (QAR4 billion, equivalent to $1.1 billion), but international sukuk issuance is unlikely as key sukuk markets in the GCC remain closed to Qatar amid the ongoing political dispute. • We expect that Oman and Bahrain (B2 stable) will continue to tap the international sukuk market (including through private placements), as they have done in each of the past three years, although Bahrain's financial support package from its GCC neighbors announced in September 2018 has reduced the government's immediate external financing needs. • Kuwait (Aa2 stable) remains the only GCC sovereign that has not issued a sukuk to date. Nevertheless, a group of MPs submitted a proposal late last year for a law that would enable sukuk issuance going forward. • Indonesia's 2019 budget reveals plans to issue $2 billion in international sukuk this year, in addition to $12 billion in long-term local currency sukuk. The international sukuk portion has already been completed in mid-February, of which $750 million was in the form of sovereign green sukuk, which the country pioneered in March 2018. • Turkey issued a $2 billion three-year international sukuk in mid-February 2019, making up for last year's absence from the international sukuk market, and will likely issue at least an equivalent amount domestically during the rest of the year. • The emirate of Ajman is considering tapping the international debt capital markets in the first half of the year, either through a US dollar bond or a sukuk, which would make it the fifth emirate to do so (following Dubai, Abu Dhabi (Aa2 stable), Sharjah (A3 stable) and Ras Al Khaimah). • Egypt (B3 positive) announced that during the fiscal year starting 1 July 2019 it might tap a number of unconventional sources of financing, including panda bonds and international sukuk. • In Ghana (B3 stable), the ministry of finance indicated that the country could issue a sukuk as part of its plan to raise $3 billion from the international debt capital markets in 2019. • The government of Sri Lanka (B2 stable) has said that it would explore the possibility of tapping non-conventional capital markets, including sukuk, during 2019 to diversify its foreign funding sources, subject to market conditions. In January it announced plans to issue LKR310 billion ($1.7 billion) in either sukuk, samurai or panda bonds. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines (Baa2 stable) has issued Memorandum Circular No 12 (Series of 2018) containing the guidelines for the issuance of green Sukuk under the ASEAN Green Bond Standards. • The government of Brunei (a regular issuer of short-term domestic sukuk) has already raised BN$100 million ($73 million) through the issuance of 12-month ijarah instruments in January 2019.
