Profits from Islamic sukuks big

An expert in Islamic funding has outlined essential differences between ordinary bonds and Islamic sukuks, the most prominent of which is the fact that profit is more guaranteed in the second case. Addressing a hearing session of the Shura Council's financial affairs committee on Tuesday Ahmed Hassan el-Naggar made it clear that possession of Islamic bonds (sukuks) lasts for a certain period - while the project is being implemented. Naggar assured MPs that control bodies work to detect "corrupt" feasibility studies to guarantee the money put into the sukuks go to the place it is meant for. According to Naggar, two segments of people could be interested in the sukuks: those after an Islamic-based investment and those seeking to make big profits with less risks. International and Gulf investment banks could also consider the sukuks, Naggar noted. Unlike loans which have negative impacts on investors, sukuks are directly linked with assets of the project that could very well be an infrastructure, a private sector or a public-private sector project, the financial expert explained. International trading in Islamic sukuks reached 135 billion dollars in 2012, Naggar said, expecting it to increase to 300 billion by 2016.