SUKUK - Indonesia to sell 2 trln rph sukuk to Haj Fund

JAKARTA, Sept 2 - Indonesia plans to sell 2 trillion rupiah of sukuk to the state-managed Islamic Haj Fund through a private placement in September, the government's debt office said on Thursday.

"We have targeted to sell 4.855 trillion rupiah in private placement this year, and have already sold 2.855 trillion rupiah," said Dahlan Siamat, director in charge of sukuk.

"There is one sukuk auction planned in September after the Idul Fitri holiday."

Bhimantara Widyajala, a bond director at the debt office, said the debt office had issued 139.2 trillion rupiah in bonds so far this year, of 162.3 trillion rupiah now targeted after saying in July it would cut debt issuance by 26 percent this year.

The cut has included delaying a global sukuk to 2011, and comes after the government lowered its forecast for the budget deficit because of stronger growth and government revenues.

The finance ministry has recently failed to raise its target amount in sukuk auctions, reflecting investor concerns about poor liquidity for Islamic paper. (Reporting by Aditya Suharmoko and Dicky Kristanto; Editing by Neil Chatterjee)

Source : http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20100902/tbs-indonesia-economy-sukuk-b246348.html - Reuters Friday Sept 3, 2010