A biweekly Islamic bond auction held by Indonesia raised about $563.11 million. According to the finance ministry, Indonesia achieved its indicative target through the bond auction. The weighted average yields of the Islamic bonds sold on Tuesday were higher compared with yields of the previous auction held on July 23.
Apart from Islamic bonds, Indonesia is also planning to sell diaspora bonds to Indonesians living outside the country to expand its funding sources and reduce its dependency on foreign funds. While Indonesians living in the Middle East might prefer Islamic bonds but that may not be the case with Indonesians living in the US or European countries. So, the development of a balanced scheme is still in the process.
Earlier this year, Indonesia also issued climate bonds worth $2 billion, $750 million of which were 5.5-year sovereign sukuk wakala. Indonesia’s first issued a climate bond in 2018, worth $1.25 billion. The country has become the fifteenth biggest issuer of climate bonds and the only Islamic economy in the world’s top 15, for the first half of 2019.
The Indonesian government has managed to raise about $10 billion annually from overseas selling dollar, euro, and yen-denominated securities as well as Islamic bonds.
Recently, Indonesian authorities decided to target its younger generation in a bid to raise funds and reduce dependency on foreign funds. The Indonesian finance ministry organised a mega event in Jakarta, taking help from celebrities and social media influencers to create awareness about bonds among the younger Indonesian generation.
According to Loto Srinaita Ginting, the finance ministry’s director of debt securities, a government pilot project to boost online retail bond investment, held last year, attracted more than 45,000 new investors, most of them aged between 25 and 38.