The Egyptian government will go into negotiations with an Islamic bank in Turkey to go into Initial Public Offering (IPO) regarding sukuk, said advisor to the finance minister on sukuk, Ahmed Al-Naggar. The sukuk unit has already created a list of all the final projects that will be established through sukuk, which are expected to take place in June. Al-Naggar revealed that one of the projects that will be funded through sukuk is the Ain Shams train project, which is worth EGP 4.5bn in investments. “This is the first project we'll be working on as it will help develop a number of industrial cities such as Badr, Obour, Al-Shorouk and the 10th of Ramadan city," he said. The sukuk unit has also begun negotiations with 13 ministries so that it receives their upcoming projects to issue Islamic bonds for funding. “The ministry has received proposals for 20 different projects; among them are four projects being studied at the moment," Al-Naggar said. He also added that the ministry has received a proposal for a new project to be established in Kafr Al-Sheikh worth $150m. Al-Naggar emphasized that as soon as the sukuk law is in effect, the government will hold two bidding rounds for the sukuk projects, the first to be denominated in US Dollars and the second in Egyptian Pounds. The government has resorted to the system of sukuk or Islamic bonds as it considers this to be a new way to alleviate budgetary burdens for the state and inject investments into the country, specifically from businessmen who work according to Islamic financial advice.
