Indonesia rejects sukuk auction bids

Indonesia's finance ministry rejected all bids for its sukuk auction on yesterday, signalling it is confident of meeting its 2010 financing target and reducing its borrowing costs.

Indonesia plans to raise a total of 175.1 trillion rupiah (Dh68.77bn, $18.74bn) of debt this year to repay maturing bonds and help plug a budget deficit seen at 1.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

It has raised around 48trn rupiah debt, including $2bn from a global bond issue, or just more than a quarter of its full-year target in less than two months in the fiscal year starting in January, based on Reuters calculations.

The government has said it expected to raise most of its debt in the first half of the year, capitalising on strong foreign demand for emerging market assets. Neighbouring Philippines had adopted a similar strategy.

Handy Yunianto, fixed income analyst at Mandiri Sekuritas, said yesterday's outcome was a reflection of the government's desire to lower the cost of issuing sukuk and reflected its confidence on meeting its financing target. "It shows that it wants to reduce the costs of issuing sukuk to be more in line with that of issuing conventional debt," said Yunianto.

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