The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) banks' credit profiles are likely to weaken due to the COVID-19 pandemic and declining oil prices, regardless of the overwhelming stimulus packages worth billions of dollars, according to Fitch Ratings (Fitch). Fitch notes that all six GCC policymakers were swift to launch relief programs intended to alleviate the economic effects of the pandemic. Overall, the region's Governments have declared a total of more than USD 200 billion in economic stimulus, mostly focusing on monetary and macro-prudential initiatives. However, Fitch adde...

Malaysian Rating Corporation (MARC) has affirmed the BBBis rating of Senai-Desaru Expressway’s (SDE) MYR 1.89 billion Islamic Medium-Term Notes (Restructured Sukuk) Programme, with a Stable Outlook. SDE is a 77-kilometre expressway in Johor, which links the towns of Senai and Desaru with a connecting highway to Pasir Gudang. MARC has considered the accommodative amortisation schedule put in place under the programme, according to which the first principal repayment is due in the year 2038, this back-ended financing structure a...

Malaysian Rating Corporation (MARC) has affirmed the AAAis rating of Cagamas MBS’ asset backed Sukuk Musharakah issuances (CMBS 2005-1; CMBS 2007-1-i), with a Stable Outlook.  These affirmed ratings and Outlook are backed by a solid collateral pool for the issuances. Both these Sukuk are supported by a pool of Government Staff Islamic Home Financing (GSIHF) Although there’s a likelihood of defaults due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat of defaults of the collateral pool is projected to remain low, driven by the mortgage payment system by mont...

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has announced further adjustments in its foreign exchange policy, allowing corporates greater flexibility to better handle their foreign exchange risk exposure and aimed at improving business efficiency. With these adjustments, five measures have been announced with immediate effect. Under the first amendment to the foreign exchange policy, resident exporters will no longer be required to convert export proceeds below MYR 200,000 per transaction into MYR. According to BMN, this flexibility is expected to reduce the admin...

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran), Eshaq Jahangiri, signed off on a resolution allowing the country’s government departments and municipalities to issue up to IRR 180 trillion (USD 1.12 billion) worth of Shariah-compliant securities, Local media reports stated that these funds were being raised for infrastructure development projects until the end of the current calendar year in late March 2021. The Sukuk is expected to be issued by municipalities and their subsidiary organizations across the country and IRR 80 trillion of this issuance...

The Higher Shariah Authority (HSA) of the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) for financial and banking activities has recently reviewed the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and approved a range of Shariah guidelines to minimize its effects on affected individuals and corporations. During this discussion, the HSA issued guidelines relating to the deferral of instalments for customers of Shariah-compliant financing institutions and how to deal with such postponements from a Shariah perspective, depending on the nature of the transaction and the respective Shariah contracts. The HSA...

As the global supply chains for Halal products have been affected by COVID-19, Cao Thi Thanh Van, the Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC), stated that the disintegration of global supply chains both created challenges and opened opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to tap into the global Halal market. She made this statement during an online event organized by the ITPC and the Vietnam Halal Centre (VHC). Thanh Van added that the Muslim community represents a major potential market for Vietnamese exports as many local businesses have be...

Malaysia’s Finance Minister, Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, has stated that Malaysia's economy could decline more than initially expected in 2020 due to prolonged movement restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the Central Bank of Malaysia earlier forecasting Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow between -2% and 0.5%, Tengku Zafrul said that the country’s GDP could shrink even more as forecasts were made after just two weeks of movement curbs. However, Malaysia has been experiencing movement restrictions for over 5 weeks as of...

Moody’s Investors Services (Moody’s) affirmed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) sovereign credit rating at A1. However, the country’s Outlook was downgraded to Negative from Stable as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, coupled with the crash of oil prices at a global level. Moody’s previous downgrade on KSA was back in 2016, and its current rating assessment is above that of Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings.  According to Moody’s, the negative outlook reflects increased downside risks to Saud...

In today’s digital world, customer demands easy and immediate payment methods while not carrying cash in their wallets. For this purpose, commercial banks offer credit card facility to their customers. The credit card facility allows a customer to make purchases now and pay later. The credit card has multiple benefits such as cashback rewards, globally acceptance, advance cash, internet banking, utility bill payments, online shopping payments, merchant payments, insurance and many more. These features attract customers to use credit card and made their life easy. In Pakistan, the credit...