NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Africa’s three largest economies – Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt – all raised sizeable public debt funding through three sukuk issuances in 2023/24, totalling an aggregate equivalent of $3.045bn.

Sukuk is an Islamic debt instrument wherein the finance provider has ownership of real assets and earns a return sourced from those assets. This contrasts with conventional bonds where the investor has a debt instrument earning the return predominately via the payment of interest (riba). Riba or excess is not allowed under sharia law.

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