Sovereign Sukuk: a Real Alternative for Financing Infrastructures in Sub-Saharan Africa?

The Islamic bond market has already proven its usefulness as a viable source of financing for both the private and public sectors. The Sukuk market has met a growing interest in the Muslim world and elsewhere over the past decade. Islamic bonds are flexible instruments that could be used to finance infrastructure projects. Recently, several African countries have adopted this type of Sukuk issuing and others have announced their willingness to issue these instruments in the near future. However, several challenges remain to be overcome in the continent so that Sukuk issuing becomes an additional alternative to finance the African infrastructure projects. This paper documents recent advances in sovereign Sukuk issues in sub-Saharan Africa. It also presents advantages of this instrument to finance infrastructure projects and challenges that should be addressed to boost this market on the continent.