Islamic banks asked to focus on microfinance to reduce poverty
Islamabad(PR): The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Sunday expressed satisfaction over the efforts of government which has resulted in rapid growth in Islamic financial industry.
Islamic banks should also focus on microfinance market to lift people out of poverty, said Abdul Rauf Alam, President FPCCI.
e said that over 2000 institutions are providing Islamic financial products globally while the volume of this sector has crossed 2.4 trillion dollars which is projected to hit mark of 3.5 to 4.0 trillion dollars in five years.
Abdul Rauf Alam said that Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Iran and leading the Islamic finance sector having over 65 percent assets, while Malaysia is world leader in Sukuk market.
Pakistan has also witnessed rapid development in Islamic financial market as we had one Islamic bank in 2002 while now twenty two Islamic banks are operating while the interest of conventional banks in Islamic finance continue to increase.
Abdul Rauf Alam said that Islamic banks are developing at a rapid pace of 200 to 250 percent per annum and they have captured almost fifty percent of the consumer market but most of the institutions are overlooking microfinance despite having over 1.74 trillion rupees in deposits.
The FPCCI president said that banking is the leading sector of Islamic finance encompassing almost eighty percent of whole while insurance comes at second place while microfinance is ignored.
He said that Muslim are 26 percent of the world but forty six percent of them are poor that can be lifted out to progress with the help of microfinance.
Government should help Islamic banks as some of them suffers from lack of investment opportunities hitting their growth, he demanded.
