Égypte-actualités

Al-Azhar on Thursday approved a law that would allow the country, which is struggling with a soaring budget deficit, to issue sukuk (Islamic bonds), but said some articles passed by the Shura Council must be amended.

The Freedom and Justice Party-dominated Parliament approved the law in March and referred it to President Mohamed Morsy. Al-Azhar, the country's leading Islamic authority, protested, saying its top scholars should have been consulted, as stated in the new, Islamist-tinged Constitution.

The scholars have now agreed to the bill on sukuk, on condition that certain articles are amended, according to a statement from the Senior Scholars Authority.

Reuters, via Egypt independent

Egypt's leading Islamic authority Al-Azhar said on Thursday its clerics must be consulted on a law allowing the state to issue Islamic bonds, setting it at odds with the Muslim Brotherhood which drove the legislation through parliament last week.

It marks the first time Al-Azhar, a thousand-year-old seat of Islamic learning, has said its Senior Scholars Authority should be consulted on issues pertaining to Islamic law as set out in Egypt's new, Islamist-tinged constitution.

Al-Azhar's intervention could set a precedent for clerical oversight of other affairs of state. The Salafi Nour Party has said Al-Azhar must also approve an agreement Egypt is seeking with the International Monetary Fund because it includes a loan upon which Egypt will pay interest.

The Islamic bond, or sukuk law, will allow Egypt to issue debt compliant with Islamic principles, allowing the state to tap a new area of finance as President Mohamed Mursi's administration grapples with an unaffordable budget deficit.

 

Reuters

More : http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/28/us-egypt-azhar-idUSBRE92R0SD20130328?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co

Le conseil de la choura égyptien (Sénat) a adopté, lundi, un projet de loi qui doit permettre l'émission de "sukuk", des obligations souveraines fidèles à la charia. 

Le texte, retouché par le gouvernement à la suite de critiques formulées par des responsables religieux, permet à l'investisseur de recevoir à échéance régulière des profits engrangés par des actifs tangibles, le plus souvent constitués de biens immobiliers ou d'infrastructures. 

L'Egypte, dont le gouvernement cherche à renflouer les réserves de devises étrangères du pays, en particulier de dollars, en chute libre depuis le renversement du régime de Hosni Moubarak début 2011, n'avait encore jamais émis ce type d'obligations. 

Le ministère égyptien des Finances a fait savoir que la Banque islamique de développement islamique, un établissement international basé en Arabie saoudite, avait annoncé son intention d'acheter près de 5 milliards d'euros de "sukuk". 

Pour le ministère, l'émission des "Sukuk" (certificat d'investissement) pourrait promouvoir les investissements et réaliser des bénéfices de 10 à 15 milliards de dollars annuellement. 

Le gouvernement émettra les "Sukuk" à partir de juin prochain, après l'approbation de la loi par le Sénat, a précisé la même source.

By Lamia Nabil 

The economic committee of the Shura Council prepared a draft law for sukuk, which differs from a previous draft law that has been circulating previous weeks.

“We have prepared an independent draft law unlike the Ministry of Finance’s current project [regarding sukuk],” said Saeed Aref, a member of the council’s economic committee. The new draft law has been submitted to the Ministry of Finance before being presented to the council.

Aref said a dialogue session, which was held on Sunday, included Dr Hussein Hamid Hassan, an Islamic finance expert, representatives of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and the Egyptian Islamic Finance Association.

Aref also mentioned that the committee’s draft law grants foreigners the right to invest in sukuk usufruct for a maximum duration of 40 years, saying there will be no maximum percentage of ownership.

Je ne comprends pas pourquoi certains insistent sur le fait d’insérer la religion dans toutes les affaires de la vie quotidienne, alors que cela nuit au caractère sacré de la religion.

Le dernier aspect de cette ingérence concerne les soukouk (obligations financières islamiques) que le gouvernement a l’intention de lancer prochainement. Après le refus par l’Organisme des recherches islamiques, un comité de grands cheikhs et de Dar Al-Iftaa (institution religieuse chargée des législations) a été formé pour se charger de cette affaire, comme s’il existait un complot visant à semer la zizanie entre Al-Azhar et Dar Al-Iftaa. En effet, le grand imam d’Al-Azhar, le cheikh Ahmad Al-Tayeb, a fait part de son refus total de ce projet qui menace les actifs de l’Etat et les propriétés des particuliers. Malgré ce refus, on entend encore parler du lancement de soukouk, sans caractère islamique. Là, il faut s’arrêter sur plusieurs points.

D’abord, quel est le motif de cette hâte alors que l’idée des soukouk a été proposée dans un contexte obscur et sans étude approfondie ?

Ensuite, ces soukouk nous rappellent l’expérience amère des sociétés d’investissement qui, au nom de la religion, avaient usurpé l’épargne des citoyens et plongé les gouvernements consécutifs dans de profondes crises. L’expérience des sociétés d’investissement constitue l’un des plus grands désastres dans la vie de millions de citoyens égyptiens. Et il est curieux que les soukouk imitent cette expérience en ce qui concerne l’objectif et la référence religieuse islamique.

Par ailleurs, juste avant la révolution du 25 janvier, l’ancien régime avait tenté de faire la propagande d’un processus ressemblant à celui des soukouk, mais sans couverture religieuse. Cela a eu lieu quand le gouvernement a songé à lancer des soukouk pour les particuliers, annonçant que chaque citoyen obtiendrait un document prouvant sa possession d’une somme entre 300 et 500 L.E. sur les bons du Trésor.

A mon avis, l’opération actuelle concernant les soukouk est identique à celle des sociétés d’investissement et à celle des soukouk lancée par le gouvernement avant la révolution. L’objectif est le même : prendre l’épargne des citoyens et vendre les fonds de l’Etat. Il se peut que personne ne sache encore aujourd’hui qui est derrière le projet des soukouk islamiques. Est-ce le gouvernement ? Si oui pourquoi cela n’a-t-il pas été annoncé ? Quand le projet sera-t-il soumis à l’opinion publique ? Qu’en est-il de la loi discutée par le Conseil consultatif ? Vient-elle du gouvernement ou d’une source inconnue ? Mais le plus dangereux est ce groupe de cheikhs, qui a pris pour mission de défendre les soukouk.

 

Plus : http://hebdo.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/958/4/132/1443/Le-danger-des-soukouk.aspx

Le projet de loi autorisant l’utilisation des soukouk à des fins publiques ou privées divise le gouvernement. Au final, pas moins de trois projets sont aujourd’hui examinés par le Conseil consultatif.

With the rise of political Islam across North Africa in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, Islamic finance is being touted as the solution to decades of unemployment and economic inequality.

“We’ve tried socialism, we’ve tried capitalism, now we’re trying Islam,” cried supporters of Mohammed Morsi, when he was elected as Egypt’s first Islamist president last June. In Libya and Tunisia, new political movements have pledged to use Islamic principles to right their wayward economies.

But some critics – including advocates for the greater use of Islamic finance – believe that a sudden and rigid adherence to Islamic law, known as Sharia, could dramatically slow down economic recoveries across the region at a time when governments are already struggling to establish stability.

With rising unemployment, growing deficits and continued protests, anything less than a quick-turnaround for post-Arab Spring economies could be disastrous, economists warn.

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Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood is positioning itself as the most powerful political group in the post-Mubarak era, has become an important test for whether the marriage of Sharia with a 21st-century country can ameliorate financial and social hardship.

(...)

Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood is positioning itself as the most powerful political group in the post-Mubarak era, has become an important test for whether the marriage of Sharia with a 21st-century country can ameliorate financial and social hardship.

The Islamist government has focused on passing new laws to allow the issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, and pledged to centralise zakat, a mandatory charitable giving from Muslims, to better target poverty.

While a shift to Islamic finance could bring an economic boost by giving countries access to a huge pool of Islamic investment funds from the oil-producing countries of the Persian Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, some say Sharia is out of sync with modern economics and cannot work in today’s world without extensive updating.

 Rebel EconomyMore : http://rebeleconomy.com/2013/04/07/special-report-after-arab-spring-islamists-test-religion-in-economics/ 

By: Lamia Nabil / Daily news Egypt

The Shura Council approved the sukuk draft law during its general session on Monday after deliberations and voting entered its fifth day.

The final draft law consists of the council’s economic and financial committee proposal, the government’s proposal and the Shura Council’s joint committee proposal.

The Shura Council modified 13 articles in the draft law.

The final report from the committee mentioned that there are some items that have been further developed and modified.

These include the addition of new articles to the draft law, some of which include new definitions of terms such as “sukuk manager” and “sharia”.

Another new article has been added allowing religious endowments, known as Waqf  institutions, to issue sukuk.

The report also mentioned adding an article for public sector companies issuing sukuk, and to defer the authority for determining funds which may be issued for governmental sukuk to the Egyptian Cabinet.

The committee also limited the minimum issuance for sukuk to EGP 100m per certificate, or its equivalent in any foreign currency.

A grievances mechanism has also been developed to mediate between sukuk owners and administrative bodies through a committee which is answerable to the prime minister’s office.

Its adjudication will be enforceable and binding on administrative authorities after approval by the Egyptian Cabinet.

 

http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/03/11/shura-council-approves-sukuk-draft-law/

Khaled Ouda, geologist and member of Shura Council (lower house of parliament), stated that Egypt seeks to finance projects such as Qattara Depression Project which has investment cost ranging from US$ 100 billion to US$ 110 billion, and has expected revenues from land sale only of US$ 1.2 billion.

 

The project is also expected to create about 200,000 job opportunities just by the beginning of the project, he added. 

 

Ouda confirmed that Egypt has strategic national projects that will achieve high economic returns as well as environmental return. These projects can be financed through sukuk and their ownership will be eventually transferred to the country, he continued.

 

"Investing in mines may be financed through sukuk, as mining achieve high returns and Egypt has 93 mines unexploited mines.

 

The company investing Sukari Gold Mine injected US$ 350 million since the start of the exploitation, while the volume of extracted gold reached 20 tonnes and the country received US$ 1 billion," he added. There are number of projects being studied in the current period such as Bahr El Remal El Azam project which will provide 3.7 million feddans viable for agriculture and Gilf al-Kebir silicon production project.

Sak (singular), sukuk (plural): as stipulated in the project law endorsed by the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and Al-Nour Party, a financial instrument representing a common share in the property of assets, facilities or services pertaining to a certain project, specified in the offering bulletin and in compliance with Islamic Shari’a.