NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, August 29, 2013

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan has stressed upon the Islamic finance industry should take steps to make individual as well as collaborative efforts to develop Islamic microfinance in the country.

Addressing opening session of the Islamic Finance News Pakistan Road show on Islamic Banking at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Yaseen Anwar Governor SBP said Islamic Microfinance, a confluence of two industries, Islamic Finance and Microfinance, could not only be an efficient tool for financial inclusion by catering to both voluntary and involuntary financially excluded but also towards poverty reduction due to its inherent characteristic of being prudent and asset based.

He said financial inclusion was one of the key strategic objectives of SBP and emphasised the industry to develop capacity to tap strategically important sectors of agriculture and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and create value for shareholders, depositors and the country’s economy as a whole.

He assured SBP would provide every support and facilitation to the industry in efforts to build and expand its portfolio in these sectors.

Anwar said Islamic banking in Pakistan has witnessed significant growth during the last decade and now constituted over 10 percent of the country’s banking system with an asset base of over Rs 900 billion and a network of more than 1,100 branches.