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uropean investors will be one of the government'€™s main targets when it sells its upcoming US dollar-denominated global Islamic bonds (sukuk), a finance ministry official has said.

The government planned to issue Rp 60.37 trillion in global sukuk (US$5.3 billion) this year, 51 percent of which had already been issued, said Dahlan Siamat, director of Islamic financing at the Finance Ministry'€™s debt management office.

'€œI have heard that Europeans are interested in buying our global sukuk,'€ said Dahlan during a seminar in Jakarta on Monday.

'€œTherefore this year, Europe, especially the United Kingdom, will be our main target,'€ he added.

Last year, Indonesia'€™s global sukuk auction was dominated by bids from Asian funds, which made up 25 percent of overall investors, followed by the US at 24 percent and the Middle East at 20 percent, while European investors only made up a small amount.

Dahlan said that the government would soon conduct a road show to offer its global sukuk to several countries in Europe. It will also travel to Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East.

'€œLast year, our global sukuk was oversubscribed. I'€™m confident that we can relive last year'€™s success,'€ he said.

The issuance of the sharia compliant bonds was more than three times oversubscribed last year, with incoming bids topping $5.6 billion.

Dahlan did not mention exactly when global sukuk issuance for the rest of this year would take place, but hinted that it would be carried out before or during the month of Ramadhan, between June and July, or after Idul Adha in October.

'€œ[During Ramadhan or Idul Adha] is usually when the government issues global sukuk,'€ he said.

Indonesia has offered US-dollar denominated sukuk to investors four times, the first time being in April 2009 when the government issued S$650 million ($519 million). The government then offered $1 billion in November 2011 and another $1 billion in November 2012, before its last issuance of $1.5 billion in September last year.

According to data compiled by the Finance Ministry, as of the end of 2013, Indonesia had the fourth-largest global sukuk issuance.

Indonesia only made up 5 percent of the world'€™s global sukuk issuance, while Malaysia'€™s dominated at 69 percent.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 12 percent of the world'€™s global sukuk offerings while United Arab Emirates'€™ share was at 6 percent.

Malaysia was the first country to issue sovereign global sukuk worth $600 million in 2002. Indonesia trailed seven years later.

'€œWe are way behind Malaysia with regard to time and regulation. We still have room for improvement,'€ said Dahlan.

'€œI do think our country has the potential to be the center of the world'€™s sharia finance. However, it will take a while because we are a late bloomer,'€ he added. (dwa)