IslamicFinance.de

The UK’s maiden sovereign sukuk issue was announced with considerable fanfare in October, and appears to be making progress. But the UK Treasury is not in a rush, and market participants are beginning to wonder why there is a delay. The sukuk will now reportedly take place in the "next financial year" – that is, no earlier than April 5, and potentially not even this year. Sajid Javid, MP, the financial secretary to the Treasury, said that it is very important that the UK has looked at everything in fine detail before issuing its first sukuk. Javid also confirmed that, for the moment, the UK only intends to issue one sukuk. This is a one-off issuance, not a long-term programme, and its main purpose is not financing for the government, but to develop the UK as a financial centre.