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Economics

Malaysia launches the world’s first green Islamic bond

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The green sukuk, or Islamic bond, is a big step forward to fill gaps in green financing. Proceeds are used to fund environmentally sustainable infrastructure projects such as solar farms in Malaysia.
Photo: Aisyaqilumar/bigstock

Climate change is expected to hit developing countries the hardest. Its potential effects on temperatures, precipitation patterns, sea levels, and frequency of weather-related disasters pose risks for agriculture, food, and water supplies. At stake are recent gains in the fight against poverty, hunger and disease, and the lives and livelihoods of people in developing countries.
 
World Bank green bonds help raise awareness among investors and the financial community about how developing countries can take action on climate change. We are advising governments on the development of green bond markets based on our own experience of issuing green bonds and the knowledge we have due to our position as a market leader in this space.
 
Last year, the World Bank Group Global Knowledge and Research Hub joined a Technical Working Group with Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission supporting the Malaysia Green Finance Program, leveraging from our experience and expertise in green financing. The program aims to encourage investments in green or sustainable projects through the development of green Islamic finance markets initially in Malaysia, and subsequently, in the ASEAN region.
 
Today, the program has supported the launch of the first green sukuk in the world on June 27, 2017. The sukuk is a green Islamic bond where the proceeds are used to fund a specific environmentally sustainable infrastructure project, such as the construction of renewable energy generation facility.
 
Green sukuk have the potential to further broaden this market as well as to help bridge the gap between the conventional and Islamic financial worlds. The sukuk should be attractive to conventional investors if they offer reasonable risk-adjusted returns and are properly marketed. A sukuk that meets those criteria and provides funding for an environmentally sustainable project could be particularly attractive to environment-focused investors for two principal reasons.
 
First, sukuk provide investors with a high degree of certainty that their money will be used for a specific purpose. In order to comply with the underlying Shari’ah principles, the funds raised through the issue of a sukuk must be applied to investment in identifiable assets or ventures. Therefore, if a sukuk is structured to provide funds for a specified infrastructure project, such as a renewable energy project, there is little chance the investors’ money will be diverted and used for another purpose.
 
Second, many more environment-focused investment products exist on the equity side of the capital markets than on the fixed income side. Since most environmentally sustainable investors want to know precisely how their money will be used, bonds that are general obligations of an issuer have limited appeal unless all of the activities of the issuer meet the investor’s…

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Economics

National News Bureau Of Thailand

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BANGKOK (NNT) – The Commerce Ministry has launched measures to increase rice exports to 6 million tons this year, valued at around 150 billion baht, with Indonesia, China, Bangladesh and Iraq set to be the main markets under government-to-government (G2G) deals.

Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said G2G deals and a campaign to make Thai rice more recognizable around the world will spearhead efforts to increase the export volume from last year’s 5.7 million tons.

He said the ministry is working with the Thai Rice Exporters Association to promote Thai rice under the “Think Rice, Think Thailand” campaign, adding that Thailand successfully made Thai rice become better known in Canada, increasing its exports to the country by 21% to 120,000 tons last year.

Mr Jurin said one of the distinctive characteristics of Thai rice is its very low sugar content. This would make it the preferred choice among Canadians as 28% of the Canadian population has high blood sugar levels.

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Bangkok Metropolitan Energy Authority (MEA) partners with Chineses owned Newsky Energy (Thailand) Company

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BANGKOK (NNT) – The Metropolitan Energy Authority (MEA) is looking into co-investment opportunities with private firm Newsky Energy Thailand for the construction of two new waste-to-energy power plants in Bangkok, promoting the expansion of alternative energy in the metropolitan area along with environmental protection.

The MEA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with private firm Newsky Energy Thailand on co-investment arrangements for waste-to-energy power plants in the Nong Khaem and On Nut districts of Bangkok, a project costing about 10 billion baht.

MEA Governor Kirapat Jiamset, said today that each of the waste-to-energy plants will have a generating capacity of 35 megawatts of electricity using 1,000 tons of waste as fuel each day.

Mr Kirapat said the two power plants will be introduced along with the smart grid system, which allows communities in service areas to receive power entirely from these plants, independent of the main power lines.

New Sky Energy Thailand CEO He Ning said the company has been working with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to operate a waste-to-energy incinerator at Nong Khaem dump, which converts 500 tons of garbage into electricity each day.

Operating since 2016, Mr Ning said the incinerator has been continuously feeding electricity to the MEA, with systems in place to take care of the environment and nearby communities.

The proposed new waste-to-energy plants are currently in the public consultation process. The construction of these projects is expected to commence later this year, and come online in the electricity grid in 2024.

According to the Department of Business Development, Newsky Energy (Thailand) Company Limited is currently registered as an electric power generation and transmission company in Thailand. The company is 100% owned by Chinese investors and reported a -7.25% net profit in the fiscal year 2019.

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Thailand sets export growth target at 4% for 2021

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BANGKOK (NNT) – Thailand has seen export growth of 0.35 per cent in the first month of the year. The Commerce Minister has ordered the Department of International Trade Promotion to advance an action plan to accelerate growth, which is set at 4 per cent this year.

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