Indonesia aims to raise 1 trl rupiah in Islamic bond sale

Indonesian finance ministry plans to raise 1 trillion rupiah (some 109.9 million U.S.dollars) in Islamic bond auction on March 27, in an effort to develop market for the Islamic instrument, the ministry said in a statement here Thursday. The proceeds would be used to help plug the country's budget deficit this year. Sales of Indonesia's Islamic bond on March 14 was oversubscribed with the amount of funds raised exceeding target with the number of bid received reaching 5.284 trillion rupiah ( some 576.54 million dollars) and the number of approval at 1.66 trillion rupiah (about 181.11 million dollars), higher than the initial target of 1 trillion rupiah (equal with 109.10 million dollars). The world biggest Muslim country is developing market for the Islamic instrument known as Sukuk which has huge market potential. Indonesia Islamic instrument market penetration has lagged behind neighboring Malaysia or Singapore whose Muslim population are less than Indonesia. The government proposed in the state budget to raise net bond sales by 25 trillion to 159.6 trillion rupiah (about 17.4 billion dollars) this year. The amount was higher than the original estimate of 134.6 trillion rupiah. Indonesia, a net oil importer country and provides huge fuel subsidy, aims to raise oil price by a third on April 1 to ease the risks of soaring global oil price.