(Ecofin Agency) - Kenya has started reviewing law and regulation governing Islamic finance so as to issue its first Sukuk in the 2016-2017 fiscal year, Reuters reported on Feb 17, citing Attorney General, Githu Muigai.

“We are in full flight with the review of the entire regulatory framework governing Islamic finance to facilitate the issuance of issuance,” Muigai said on the sidelines on a conference on Islamic Finance in Nairobi.

Kenyan Minister of Finance, Henry Rotich said last month that Kenya planned to issue its first sovereign Sukuk in the 2016/17 fiscal year to finance infrastructure projects, adding that the Eastern African nation which counts nearly 5 million Muslims intended to submit a request to adhere to the Islamic Cooperation Organization and Islamic Development Bank.

The Central Bank of Kenya in 2007 granted certification to two Islamic banks, then five years later, provided a licence to a Takaful insurance company.