Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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Russian lawmakers have introduced to parliament a draft bill to support Islamic finance, aiming to attract capital inflows at a time when an economic slowdown is intensifying and Western sanctions show no sign of being lifted.
The draft law, sent to parliament's lower house, the State Duma, this week, proposes allowing banks to engage in trade activities, a concept central to many of the structures used in sharia-compliant financial products.
While many other obstacles remain, the bill is seen a first step to spur development of a sector which has posted double-digit growth in several Gulf and Southeast Asian countries, but which has struggled to get off the ground in Russia.
...
State development bank Vnesheconombank and VTB Bank, both hit by sanctions, have sought to build their Islamic finance know-how in a bid to develop new funding sources.
One impulse for the recent efforts is that Russia is looking to diversify its economic ties away from Western markets, said Linar Yakupov, the head of the Association of Regional Investment Agencies of the Russian Federation.
"This is where recent sanctions became a kind of catalyst, an extra push, to further look at the economic perspective in the relationship between Russia and OIC [Organization of Islamic Cooperation] countries," he said in an interview in Bahrain.
Islamic finance could attract foreign investment and also mobilize funds from Russia's 20 million Muslims, Yakupov added.
Russia to Lift Barrier to Islamic Finance as Western Sanctions Continue Business The Moscow Times
And this is why sanctions don't work.
The draft law, sent to parliament's lower house, the State Duma, this week, proposes allowing banks to engage in trade activities, a concept central to many of the structures used in sharia-compliant financial products.
While many other obstacles remain, the bill is seen a first step to spur development of a sector which has posted double-digit growth in several Gulf and Southeast Asian countries, but which has struggled to get off the ground in Russia.
...
State development bank Vnesheconombank and VTB Bank, both hit by sanctions, have sought to build their Islamic finance know-how in a bid to develop new funding sources.
One impulse for the recent efforts is that Russia is looking to diversify its economic ties away from Western markets, said Linar Yakupov, the head of the Association of Regional Investment Agencies of the Russian Federation.
"This is where recent sanctions became a kind of catalyst, an extra push, to further look at the economic perspective in the relationship between Russia and OIC [Organization of Islamic Cooperation] countries," he said in an interview in Bahrain.
Islamic finance could attract foreign investment and also mobilize funds from Russia's 20 million Muslims, Yakupov added.
Russia to Lift Barrier to Islamic Finance as Western Sanctions Continue Business The Moscow Times
And this is why sanctions don't work.
