DUBAI: Afghanistan could have a new banking law approved by parliament in a few months including provisions for Islamic products, which may help to draw hundreds of thousands of people into the formal financial sector.

In one of the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan’s government faces a growing fiscal crisis aggravated by a drop in foreign financial aid. An estimated nine out of 10 households in the Muslim-majority nation of 30 million shun interest-based finance, at least partly for religious reasons.

The central bank, Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), is finalising a regulatory framework for Islamic banking which will be ready by the time the new law is passed, Akhond Jan Rustaqi, acting deputy director general of Islamic banking at DAB, told Reuters.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2015

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