Afghanistan’s central bank expects an Islamic banking law to be enacted by September.
The central bank’s sharia board will meet Sunday to finalize the law, said Muhammed Qaseem Rahimi, director general of the central bank’s Financial Supervision Department. It will then go to the Justice Ministry and parliament for approval.
“Most of the people who can access banking services don’t use them just because of the interest, which is not allowed in Islam,” Rahimi told Reuters via email.
“The demand for Islamic bank services is very high in banked and unbanked populations of Afghanistan.”
Of 17 banks in Afghanistan, six have Islamic banking windows. The central bank hopes to approve the creation of fully fledged Islamic banks after the law is passed, Rahimi added.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/06/us-afghanistan-islamicbanking-idUSTRE7150EQ20110206
