The World Bank Group and the Islamic Development Bank published the first Global Report on Islamic Finance, which details the prospects for the global Islamic finance industry and its potential to help reduce worldwide income inequality, enhance sharing prosperity, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Subtitled “A Catalyst for Shared Prosperity?”, the report provides an overview of trends in Islamic finance, identifies major challenges hindering the industry’s growth, and recommends policy interventions to leverage Islamic finance for promoting shared prosperity.
Islamic finance advocates for just fair and equitable distribution of income and wealth. With a strong link to the real economy as well as risk-sharing financing, Islamic finance can help improve the stability of the financial sector. It can also bring into the formal financial system people who are currently excluded from it due to cultural or religious reasons. Unlike conventional finance, Islamic finance is based on risk-sharing and asset-based financing. By making people direct holders of real assets in the real sector of the economy, it reduces their aversion to risk…..more
