The 3.575 per cent sukuk is the third bond that complies with Shariah’s ban on interest to be sold in the Gulf this month, according to Bloomberg data. Sharjah Islamic Bank sold a 4.715 per cent Islamic bond on May 18, and Islamic Development Bank, a Jeddah-based multilateral lender, issued a 2.35 per cent sukuk on the same day. 

Borrowers in the Gulf are tapping the debt market after the average yield of sukuk fell to the lowest in almost six years, according to the HSBC/Nasdaq Dubai GCC US Dollar Sukuk Index.

The rate declined to 4.51 per cent on May 24, the lowest since September 2005, the data show. Prior to HSBC’s issue on Thursday, Islamic debt sales in the region declined 41 per cent this year to $1.4 billion compared with the same period last year.