SBP to set up Shariah-compliant open market

The deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan has announced that the bank is setting up a Shariah-compliant open market to manage liquidity of the Islamic banking sector. Deputy Governor, Saeed Ahmed's announcement came on Wednesday as he addressed the global forum on Islamic economics, banking and finance arranged by the University of Management and Technology's Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance.
In his speech covering the progress of the Islamic banking system, he reiterated his bank's commitment to promoting and developing the Islamic banking in Pakistan. "We are working very hard to replace the current banking system with Islamic one, and the existing banking laws are being amended and soon this process will be finalised," he said.
University of Management and Technology Rector, Hasan Sohaib Murad claimed that his university, under his leadership, had already developed a faculty on the Islamic finance and banking to promote banking education in Pakistan on Islamic fundamentals. "The university's Institute of Islamic Banking is an educational research oriented platform that is producing leaders of this field and bridging up gap between industry and academia," he said.
They said Islamic banking was a rapidly growing sector world-wide and during the past 12 years, its cumulative average growth rate had been recorded over 50 percent. They said Islamic banking was widely misunderstood by capitalist world but in reality, "it was very close to human nature and catalyst agent for real economic change". Scholars then stressed that it was the duty of all Muslims to differentiate between halal and haram and relying on banks was not enough. They said everyone should be able to live a quality life, earn respectful livelihood, raise the family, educate children, have a decent residence and own a car in a friendly-and-interest-free environment and this was only possible because of implementation of the Islamic economic system, banking and finance.
Those who too addressed the forum were Islamic finance scholars Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman, who is the Chairman of the Punjab Halal Development Authority, Nazim Saleh Yaqoobi Al-Abbasi from Bahrain, Sheih Esaam Ishaq from Bahrain, Sohail Zubairi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Darul Sharia in the United Arab Emirates, Dr Imran Ashraf Usmani, Mufti Ghulam Rehman and Rizwan Ata of the Bank Alfalah.