Islamic Finance is for all of Mankind, Irrespective of Religion
Article Overview
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan speaking at an IMF discussion emphasised the universality of Islamic finance for all of man-kind irrespective if the customer is Muslim or not.
In answer to a question about excess liquidity leaving Muslim countries and being invested in Islamic financial instruments in non-Islamic countries such as the UK and Luxembourg, Mr Ali Babacan stated Islam is not the monopoly of any single country and that Islamic finance techniques are now universally accepted and practised. He added that he was happy to see the United Kingdom and Luxembourg issue sovereign sukuk because Turkey has long been emphasising equity and asset based financing and was a founding member of the IFSB from which global standards for Shari’a compliant financing are set.
Turkish G20 Presidency
Leveraging off its G20 presidency, Turkey has been raising the profile of Islamic finance within the organisation and has asked the IMF and World Bank to prepare reports with regards to monetary policy, fiscal policy and regulatory implications as Islamic finance moves more into conventional finance as a means of financing.
Speaking separately, Turkish Undersecretary of Treasury Cavit Dağdaş, stated “We strongly believe that Islamic Finance industry could play a vital role in infrastructure and SME financing due to its emphasis on risk-sharing and contributions to real economic activity”.
“There is a large untapped potential and this will clearly be supported by the growing awareness and the development of the financial infrastructure”.
“In this regard, the Turkish Presidency would like to increase the awareness for Islamic Finance among G20 members and encourage the G20 members to increase the role of non-traditional lending models including Islamic Finance”.
“We will help to ensure a level playing field between conventional and Islamic finance instruments, and help to support the integration of Islamic finance with the rest of the global financial system. All these works are expected to contribute to addressing the impediments to the expansion of Islamic Finance”.
