JORDAN's Ministry of Finance signed an advisory agreement on Thursday with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the private sector arm of IDB Group. The Ministry has mandated ICD as a Transaction Technical Support in the proposed debut Domestic Sukuk offering. The Mandate Letter was signed by Dr. Umayya Toukan, Minister of Finance, and ICD's Chief Executive Officer Khaled Al Aboodi. “The dinar-denominated Sukuk, expected to be issued this year, would be used as an instrument to absorb excess liquidity (estimated to be 1.4 billion dinars) held by the Kingdom's for Islamic banks”, said Dr. Toukan. “I would like to thank the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDBG) for their long-standing support and valuable contribution to enhance the development process in the Kingdom. We would like to express our appreciation to the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), a member of IDBG, for reviewing the Kingdom's Sukuk capacity needs and holding in last January Sukuk Training for government staff in Amman” he added. ICD aims to develop member countries' capital markets, specifically Islamic debt capital markets through Sukuk. Last year, ICD acted as Joint Lead Manager for debut regional currency Sukuk by the Republic of Senegal, which was closed with oversubscription. The deal was Africa's first and largest sovereign Sukuk to the international capital market. “We are very proud and honored to be mandated by the Hashemite Kingdom” Al Aboodi said. “By creating domestic Islamic capital market, the member country would be able to provide an alternative to its treasury bills for Islamic Financial Institutions to invest in. Although it is not practically common for global Sukuk arrangers, we took responsibility to fill this gap in the market which naturally falls within the developmental principals of ICD," he added. The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) is a multilateral organization, part of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group. ICD was established in November 1999 to promote economic development of its member countries in accordance with the principles of the Shariah through private sector development. ICD encourages the establishment, expansion and modernization of private enterprises through financing private sector enterprises or projects. Projects are selected on the basis of their contribution to economic development considering factors such as creation of employment opportunities and contribution to exports. ICD also provides advice to governments and private sector groups on policies to encourage the establishment, expansion and modernization of private enterprises, development of capital markets, best management practices and enhance the role of market economy. — SG
