By: Ramy Sameeh

Abu Dhabi-Mubasher: International Islamic Liquidity Management Authority (IILM) will increase the volume of its shariah-compliant sukuk issuance from $11.94 to reach $12.6 billion next week, IILM CEO Datuk Rifaat Abdel Karim said in a statement to Mubasher on the sidelines of signing an agreement between the authority and the Arab Monetary Fund.

The authority launched its short-term Islamic sukuk programme, rated A-1 by Standard and Poor's, in August to meet a shortage of highly liquid, investment-grade financial instruments which Islamic banks can trade to manage their short-term funding needs.

As a reply to a question on the authority’s membership expansion, he said that the authority already has members from central banks and financial authorities in Indonesia, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Qatar, Turkey and UAE.

Saudi Arabia has left the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp (IILM) in April 2013, the authority said, adding that the central banks of Qatar and Malaysia bought out Saudi Arabia’s share.

Translated by: Julian Nab