Côte d’Ivoire will issue its first sukuk amounting to 150 billion FCFA ($244 million) on WAEMU’s (West African Economic and Monetary Union) regional market, Reuters reports on November 20, citing official sources.

Stating that the closing date for the transaction is December 21, 2015, Joseph N’gouma Tano, Chief administrator of financial services at the Ivorian prime minister’s office, said these bonds would have a 5-year maturing period.

WAEMU’s economic powerhouse, Côte d’Ivoire announced last April a program for the issuance of sukuks of a value of 300 billion FCFA between 2015 and 2020.

Rapidly growing in the Middle-East and South-Eastern Asia, Islamic funding remains undeveloped in Africa despite that the continent counts about 400 million of Muslims. A study published last August by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) reveals that African nations issued just a billion dollars of sovereign sukuks to date against an average of 100 billion dollars per year over the past five years worldwide.