The Shura Council approved the proposed sukuk law during its session on Tuesday, the first time it will be issued in Egypt. “Once the law is in effect," said Ahmed El-Naggar, advisor to the minister of finance, “the Government will hold two bidding rounds for sukuk projects; the first to be denominated in US Dollars, the second in Egyptian Pounds." Head of the Shura Council Ahmed Fahmi referred the bill to the Council of Senior Scholars at Al-Azhar for review. The newly-adopted Constitution stipulates that the opinion of Senior Scholars at al Al-Azhar must be sought for all affairs related to Islamic Sharia Law. The next step will be for the bill to go to the Islamic Research Academy in Cairo to confirm its legitimacy, a process that will take 45 days, said Mohamed El-Feqy, head of economic committee at the Shura Council, during the session. He added: “Some members of the Al-Nour Party objected to some of the articles in the law." A number of members of the Salafi Al-Nour Party called for decreasing the value of issuing sukuk to companies to EGP 10m instead of EGP 50m. Feqy added that the law will then be forwarded to the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC), and then finally it will be sent to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi for final ratification. “The Ministry of Finance aims to decrease exports with an increase of investments rate, so as not to diversify exports when the sukuk law is applied," added El-Naggar.
