Egypt won’t use canal, state assets to back sukuk – PM

According to a statement by Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, Egypt will not use the Suez Canal or other state assets to back sukuk issues. The use of public assets such as the Suez Canal and public facilities for the issuance of instruments is excluded by the bill, which has been intensively discussed recently. Since Islam forbids interest payments, bonds must be backed by specific assets and pay investors with revenue from those assets. However, the Islamic Research Academy insists that the bill could allow authorities to abuse their control of public assets.