The Palestine Monetary Authority plans to issue its first Islamic bond, worth $50 million, by the end of the quarter.Jihad al Wazir, the governor of the authority, said, "It is testing the market and it will be a useful instrument. If we can speed it up considering the political situation, the end of this quarter would be a good time frame."
The authority controls 18 banks in the Palestine territories. It expects more debt issues in the coming months as it seeks to securitise its existing debt burden. Public debt now stands at about $970 million. The latest will be denominated in US currency, with a tenor of five years.
Mr al Wazir said Palestine's $7.5 billion economy expanded by 11.3 per cent last year. In recent years it has benefited from increasing financial donations from the West and better