Thai Islamic bank cuts bond target by 17%

BANGKOK • Islamic Bank of Thailand, the nation’s only commercial lender complying with Muslim Shariah law, cut the target for its first sale of Islamic bonds by 17% as the global credit crisis erodes investor wealth. State-owned Islamic Bank aims to sell US$500 million (RM1.8 billion) of so-called sukuk in the third quarter of this year in a bid to "pioneer this market for more state borrowings in the future," president Dheerasak Suwannayos told reporters in Bangkok yesterday.
Dheerasak on Sept 24 said the bank aimed to sell US$600 million of seven-year sukuk to Middle Eastern investors with "lots of money" to fund Thai public infrastructure projects.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore in January announced a program that will allow it to sell sukuk based on demand from financial institutions. — Bloomberg