Finance minister says a system based on Zakat and Ushr can replace the current banking system
\n Islamabad
\nFinance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said that Pakistan could become interest-free in five years as he urged the banking sector to move towards and promote Islamic banking.
\nHe expressed the views while addressing a seminar at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Karachi where speakers spoke at length about interest-free banking.
\nIn April, the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) had declared the prevailing interest-based banking system as against the Sharia and directed the government to facilitate all loans under an interest-free system.
\nThe court had ruled that the federal government and provincial governments must amend relevant laws and issued directives that the country\u2019s banking system should be free of interest by December 2027.
\nCommercial banks and the central bank had subsequently filed an appeal before the Sup\u00adreme Court (SC) challenging the FSC verdict.
\nHowever, earlier this month, Dar announced the government would be withdrawing the State Bank (SBP) and National Bank\u2019s (NBP) appeals against the FSC\u2019s directives and would \u201ctry to as quickly as possible implement an Islamic system in Pakistan\u201d.
\nSpeaking during today\u2019s seminar, the finance minister said his government was working on converting the existing banking system to an interest-free one.
\n\u201cOur government has an interest in Islamic banking [\u2026] I will not say that we have achieved it.\u201d He recalled that Meezan Bank had only 100 Islamic banking branches in 2013-2017 which had now increased to 1,000. Dar said that the assets of Islamic banks as of September 2022 were Rs7 trillion while their deposits were at Rs5tr. \u201cSo a base has been created [and] we have to make this a successful system.\u201d
\nThe minister said that in addition to Islamic banking, mutual funds, capital funds and insurance businesses should also be promoted on an \u201cIslamic basis\u201d.
\nDar called on the central bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to work in this regard in a \u201cpositive\u201d manner. \u201cThis is not something that cannot be done within five years. It can be done within five years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Finance minister says a system based on Zakat and Ushr can replace the current banking system Islamabad Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said that Pakistan could become interest-free in five years as he urged the banking sector to move towards and promote Islamic banking. He expressed the views while addressing a seminar at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[11669,1925,20],"class_list":{"0":"post-298480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-interest-free","9":"tag-ishaq-dar","10":"tag-pakistan"},"yoast_head":"\n