The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and stakeholders in the Islamic finance industry have stressed the crucial role of ethical investments for economic recovery and development.<\/p>\n\n\n
They made the assertion at the third edition of Islamic Finance News Nigeria roadshow organised by the NGX in Lagos.<\/p>\n\n\n
The show with the theme: Systemic Restart: Islamic Finance in Nigeria,\u201d was targeted at facilitating the growth of a new asset class in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n
The event, held virtually, in collaboration with REDMoney Group, was aimed at promoting the growth and development of \u201cIslamic Finance Industry\u2019\u2019 within the Nigerian economy.<\/p>\n\n\n
Mr Temi Popoola, the Chief Executive Officer of NGX, said there was a need to find ways to explore the role Islamic financing could play in the current challenging economic climate.<\/p>\n\n\n
Poppola said the Islamic Finance Developement Report 2020 forecast that global Islamic finance assets would reach 3.69 trillion dollars by 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cThe report attributed the strong growth in 2019 to the large issuance of Sukuk in the traditional Islamic finance market of Saudi-Arabia, Malaysia, Iran and others.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cIn Nigeria, the Islamic financial market continues to grow with increased interest from market participants and a growing number of players including two Islamic banks.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cFollowing the devastating effects of the COVID-19 in the global economies, the Islamic finance industry has played a critical role in the global economic recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cIn 2020, the Islamic Development Bank raised $1.5 billion with its first Sukuk of sustainability designed to help in the recovery of COVID-19 in its member countries.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cIn Nigeria, Islamic finance presents an opportunity for both corporates and the government to raise capital for economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cI believe the discussions today will reveal steps to further mobilise ethical capital to solve Nigeria\u2019s economic challenges,\u201d Popoola said.<\/p>\n\n\n
He added that the Islamic finance industries assets grew by 14 per cent in 2019 returning to its long-term pattern of strong growth after the slowdown in 2018 when the industry expanded by moderate two per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n
Mr Norfaselizan Rahman, the Managing Director, Taj Bank, said the Islamic finance market penetration was currently low but fast growing.<\/p>\n\n\n
Rahman said: \u201cIslamic finance is known as a non-interest industry, we have a full set of players in a relatively new market and getting to know what Islamic market is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cThere will be some growth or learning curve in Nigeria with its own pattern of growth of Islamic finance development. The market penetration is low but it is growing very fast.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cGoing by the financial inclusion of government, the unbanked population are in the North and North-East specifically,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n
Mr Peter Mushangwe, analyst, Financial Institutions Group, Moody\u2019s Investors Service, said that Islamic finance industry was at its early.<\/p>\n\n\n
Mushangwe noted that Nigeria\u2019s banking system was in the negative and bound to face more challenges if the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) figures, which showed a slow growth in the non-oil sector was anything to go by.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cIt is the early stage of development and the penetration is still very low and lower than one per cent of the GDP compared to other large Islamic systems, they are way larger than that.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cAlso, the state of regulation is still developing and evolving in Nigeria and from the Islamic finance perspective, we view it as a stage of development,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n
Mr Elhadji Thiaw, Country Sales Specialist Senegal, Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit, said the Muslims population globally were looking for ethical financing.<\/p>\n\n\n
He said: \u201cWe are the only multilateral institution globally that are providing Sharia compliant risks and mitigation tools.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cAs you might know, Muslim population worldwide are in dire need of ethical finance and we are having a key focus on Nigeria because it is a big player in the African continent.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cAlso, in the banking industry, Nigeria is playing a major role in terms of providing financial mechanisms that can help people to double up their businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cWe have detrimental credit insurance policy which is a type of insurance that is supporting banks to have enough capacity in the international market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and stakeholders in the Islamic finance industry have stressed the crucial role of ethical investments for economic recovery and development. They made the assertion at the third edition of Islamic Finance News Nigeria roadshow organised by the NGX in Lagos. The show with the theme: Systemic Restart: Islamic Finance in Nigeria,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-money","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\n