Mubasher:  Malaysia (A3 stable) and Indonesia (Baa3 stable) continue to regularly issue long-term sovereign sukuk, according to a report by Moody's Investor Services.

Gulf countries have favoured conventional debt structure to finance their deficit, the report said, adding that issuance levels may approach $28 billion in 2016.

The governments of Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal and Sharjah returned to the sovereign sukuk market this year, while issuance volumes are mainly supported by regular issuers, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey, according to Gabriel Torres, a Vice President and Senior Credit Officer at Moody's.

The GCC sovereign sukuk market remains dominated by Qatar (Aa2 negative), the most active and regular issuer of long-term sovereign sukuk in the gulf countries.

GCC favored conventional structures over sukuk. The government of Oman (Baa1 stable) issued its first sukuk, while Sharjah (A3 stable) issued its second.

Overall, the GCC sovereign sukuk market remains dominated by Qatar (Aa2 negative), the most active and regular issuer of long-term sovereign sukuk in the GCC.