PUTRAJAYA: Sukuk Prihatin, Malaysia's first ever digital sukuk, has garnered encouraging support from the public, having received RM666 million in demand to surpass its target collection of RM500 million, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said.
Tengku Zafrul said the government might look into introducing the second round of Sukuk Prihatin in the future.
However, he said any next issuance might possibly come with a zero per cent interest and not be as big as the first one.
"Sukuk Prihatin was well received, closing higher than our initial target. There are a lot of individuals who have subscribed for the sukuk and eager to help the ones in need during the Covid-19 crisis. There is also a single largest subscriber from a company.
"We do not allow big institutional funds such as the EPF (Employees Provident Fund), Tabung Haji, PNB (Permodalan Nasional Bhd), or insurance companies to subscribe to the sukuk," he told the New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd group in an interview here recently.
"We promised a very low return rate of two per cent to the ones invested with the option to donate in full or in part. The response had been overwhelming and we would like to thank individuals as well as companies who invested in Sukuk Prihatin. We may introduce a second round of fundraising, this time probably with zero interest. We will try and see," he added.
During the tabling of 2021 Budget last Friday, Tengku Zafrul said the government would allocate RM100 million from the proceeds of Sukuk Prihatin for research relating to infectious diseases covering vaccine development as well as treatment research and diagnostics.
The RM500 million Sukuk Prihatin was launched in August by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, aiming to raise funds from the public and corporate who wished to help contribute towards the Covid-19 Fund.
The sukuk is part of the 6R initiative launched by the government to help tackle the issue faced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Muhyiddin said the fund raised from the bottom up initiative would be used to modernise telecommunications network in the rural area to help students get access to education through digital channel, provide further assistance to the micro, small and medium enterprises, as well as funding towards the healthcare sector's research on infectious diseases.
The shariah-compliant sukuk is the first of its kind that are open to be subscribed by the public and corporates via online banking channels namely JomPAY and DuitNow.
The minimum subscription for the first investment is RM500 with an interest of two per cent per annum for a tenure of two years.
Interest will be credited to subscribers or investors account every quarter for the period of the tenure.
After the tenure ends, subscribers or investors can opt to fully donate the interest to Covid-19 Fund and will be given tax relief depending on the size of the donation.