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The Central Bank of Tunisia is in the process of studying a request for the creation of a new Islamic bank to be launched by a Tunisian resident abroad, in partnership with foreign investors, announced Wednesday, Chedly Ayari, governor of The BCT.
He said in a statement to the press, on the sidelines of the conference on "Islamic windows in global banks", held at the Arab Institute of Business Leaders, that the integration of this mode of financing within traditional Tunisian banks, will help to diversify the banker product and also to vary the investor's portfolio, as well as to offer customers new services that adapt to their convictions.
"Similarly, Islamic Finance (IF) can be a source of funding for national and government projects, particularly in infrastructure projects, through issuing Sukuks," said the Governor, noting that the IF is very developed in the major economies of the world (Great Britain, Luxembourg ...) but also in African countries like Senegal.
Recalling that IF has been available in Tunisia since the 1970s, Ayari has specified that the novelty consists in the adoption of a new law organizing this mode of financing in July 2016 (Law No. 48 of July 11, 2016), which will make it possible to develop this mode of financing, which remains until today, limited.
For her part, Raja Darghouth, director of permanent control at the BCT, recalled that Tunisia today has three Islamic banks, namely Al Baraka (since the Seventies), Zitouna (created in 2010) and "Wifack International Bank "(in 2015). These banks accounted for 7% of the Tunisian banking market.
In addition, the official said that the BCT is currently working on the preparation of two circulars supplementing Law No. 48.
The Director at the BCT recalled that there were 500 international Islamic banks and 300 Islamic service windows (belonging to traditional banks). "The IF market represents about $ 2 trillion, with annual growth ranging between 16 and 20%. The Gulf countries accounted for 40% of all these transactions ".
© Tunis-Afrique Presse 2016
