IslamicFinance.de

The Malaysian government announced the new incentives for "ethical" Islamic bonds in the 2016 budget which was delivered by Prime Minister Najib Razak. The government originally introduced the concept of "ethical" sukuk to finance "sustainable and responsible investment" (SRI) in 2013. Sovereign wealth fund Khazanah sold 100 million ringgit ($23.7 million) of SRI sukuk in May this year but so far there have been no other issues. In Friday's budget, Najib said Malaysia would cut taxes on issuance costs of SRI sukuk, and also that sharia-compliant loan instruments would be given a 20 percent stamp duty exemption in certain cases.