KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 4): The global sukuk market would remain favourable on the back of strong demand for funding, particularly for infrastructure, across various markets,says Rating Agency Malaysia Bhd (Ram Ratings) Head of Structured Finance Ratings Siew Suet Ming.

Siew said in a session titled “Global Ratings Conference” at the Global International Finance Forum (GIFF) this morning, that there was strong interest in sukuk among  regulatory authorities, to match demand for Sharia-compliant assets with funding.

“The growth is still strong with global sukuk outstanding at US$286.4 billion as at 1H14,” she said, adding that the growth was equivalent to 6.3% expansion year-to-date and 16.8% growth year-on-year.

“Malaysia is still the largest sukuk market with 63% market share of total new issuance in 1H2014 at US$41.7 billion”, she added.

Additionally, Siew said, the country stood out as the only sukuk market with global outstanding sukuk above US$100 billion.

She noted that private sector issuance was on the rise, but it was still driven by sovereign and quasi-sovereign issuances.