Islamic Finance in Africa discusses the progress, issues and innovations in African Islamic financial markets. It provides a comprehensive overview of Islamic finance in Africa by exploring legal, regulatory and governance challenges while balancing the issues and innovations found in both Islamic commercial and social finance.

Islamic finance is a fast growing activity in world markets. This paper provides a survey on Islamic Finance in SSA. Ongoing activities include Islamic banking, sukuk issuances (to finance infrastructure projects), Takaful (insurance), and microfinance. While not yet significant in most Sub-Saharan countries, several features make Islamic finance instruments relevant to the region, in particular the ability to foster SMEs and micro-credit activtities. As a first step, policy makers could introduce Islamic financing windows within the conventional system and facilitate sukuk issuance to tap foreign investors. The entrance of full-fleged Islamic banks require addressing systemic issues, and adapting the crisis management and resolution frameworks. The IMF can play a role by sharing international experiences and providing advice on supervisory and regulatory frameworks as needed.

This book analyzes Africa's unprecedented economic growth, the state of its financial sector, and the varied opportunities for Islamic finance investors. It considers the role - potential and realized - of Islamic finance in fostering financial inclusion in areas such as banking, microfinance, capital market development, insurance, and private equity business. The book stresses that investing in Africa through Islamic finance will open new markets, ensure higher profit margins, diversify risk, and create business competition; and that these changes that will provide financial products that can satisfying the desires and beliefs of all consumers and unlock the real potential of the continent's financial system. The book also looks into the rise of international interest in Africa and concludes by scrutinizing the challenges impeding further economic growth, as well as the specific barriers that need to be addressed in order to promote the implementation of Islamic finance. Investors, policymakers, and academics ready to confront these challenges will find much of value in this book.

There has been a rapid increase in the interest in the study of Islamic finance, resulting in a dramatic rise in financing since the beginning of the century. By the end of 2017 global industry assets had reached $2.4 trillion and were forecasted to reach $3.2 trillion by 2020, despite historic challenges to Islam itself at the same time. This collection of chapters provides key theoretical, empirical, and policy insights into Islamic finance from an overall complex financial and economic systems perspective. Within the complex financial and economic systems framework, this book addresses questions such as how to conceptualize Islamic financial institutions in a nonlinear general equilibrium system, how to promote Islamic Finance in Africa, how “Islamic” is Islamic finance, and how it affects price stability, among other topics. The book provides case studies in Africa and Asia, addresses the subject in a structural financial CGE model, demonstrates the development impact of Islamic finance, and presents an Islamic version of the Iceland Plan for Monetary Reform.

Get up to speed quickly on the world's fastest growing financial sector The Islamic Finance Handbook: A Practitioner's Guide to the Global Markets is the definitive report for the Islamic finance industry. Written by the industry's leading practitioners, the book provides a country-by-country breakdown of the current state of the Islamic market, including league tables by region and by country. Relevant case studies are used throughout to illustrate the practical aspect of the information presented. Organized for easy navigation, each chapter features sub-sections that allow instant comparison between countries in a specific area of interest. The Islamic finance industry is the world's fastest growing sector, valued at over U.S. $1.3 trillion by the UK Islamic Finance secretariat, with an annual growth of 24% for the past five years. To compete globally, practitioners need a true understanding of key markets within the industry. The Islamic Finance Handbook paints a clear picture of where each country stands in its development and role within the market, and provides a straightforward comparison between markets. Features include: Current macroeconomic and microeconomic conditions Regulatory and political situations Recent transactions, key participants, and the investor climate Real-world cases, as opposed to speculative scenarios The book places a clear focus on current conditions versus past performance, and on practical applications versus theoretical speculation. Each chapter is authored by a leading practitioner from within each country, allowing a true glimpse inside the day-to-day workings of the Islamic markets. For finance professionals who need to get up to speed on this rapidly growing sector, The Islamic Finance Handbook: A Practitioner's Guide to the Global Markets is a clear, comprehensive guide.

Islamic finance has started to grow in international finance across the globe, with some concentration in few countries. Nearly 20 percent annual growth of Islamic finance in recent years seems to point to its resilience and broad appeal, partly owing to principles that govern Islamic financial activities, including equity, participation, and ownership. In theory, Islamic finance is resilient to shocks because of its emphasis on risk sharing, limits on excessive risk taking, and strong link to real activities. Empirical evidence on the stability of Islamic banks, however, is so far mixed. While these banks face similar risks as conventional banks do, they are also exposed to idiosyncratic risks, necessitating a tailoring of current risk management practices. The macroeconomic policy implications of the rapid expansion of Islamic finance are far reaching and need careful considerations.

The recent unprecedented economic downturn and global supply chain disruption by the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the urgency for sustainable financing infrastructure that is agile, adaptable, and transformable. Sustainability and the 4th Industrial Revolution are about more than just technology-driven change; it is an opportunity to help everyone, including leaders, policymakers and people from all income groups and nations, to navigate industry disruptions and transitioning to a new normal by harnessing converging technologies in order to create an inclusive, human-centered future. The edited volume provides critical discussions on reframing the Islamic finance approach to sustainability and socio-economic development in the post-pandemic era. It highlights how selected Islamic finance tools alongside FinTech can not only ensure financial sustainability but also promote socio-economic policies that will aid the much-desired value and impact creation in the economy. The book focuses its analysis on the following three areas: reframing Islamic finance sustainability and socio-economic development; innovative Islamic financial tools for sustainable and socio-economic impact; and the role of FinTech in the road to sustainability. The edited volume will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and students of Islamic finance, sustainability, and financial technology.

Can the contemporary Islamic finance movement be shown to meet the requirements of modern commerce? In the wake of the terrorist attacks on America the UN Security Council passed a resolution targeting transnational sources of terrorist funds. The United States and the International Monetary Fund are encouraging the governments of the Middle East to adopt policies of economic liberalism and a new type of capitalism, based on Islamic values and beliefs, is emerging.The aims of the book are:* to explore the political implications of the slow but steady accumulation of Islamic capital* to analyse the connections between Islamic finance and Islamic political movements in Middle Eastern and North African countries* to show that the commonly-perceived connection between Islamic finance and money laundering and terrorism is by no means the complete picture. Readers will learn to appreciate the various political contexts in which Islamic finance operates in the Middle East and North Africa and will acquire some understanding of its political as well as economic constraints. Hopefully possible misunderstandings about Islamic banking and finance will be corrected.The book is divided into two parts - part one is thematic and lays the ground for the country-specific case studies in part two (covering the Sudan, Kuwait, Jordan, Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt). The contributors include political scientists, economists and historians.Key Features:* A major topical issue* Written by the world's leading experts on Islamic Political Economy* Explores the connections between Islamic finance and Islamic political movements* Includes country-specific case studies

Growth in sub-Saharan Africa has recovered relative to 2016, but the momentum is weak and per capita incomes are expected to barely increase. Further, vulnerabilities have risen in many countries, adding to the urgency of implementing the fiscal consolidations planned in most countries and with stepped up efforts to strengthen growth.