The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced on Friday that the Islamic Banking Industry (IBI) in Pakistan has seen the “highest ever growth” as its assets crossed the Rs5 trillion mark, reaching Rs5,577 billion, an Rs1,308 billion gain.
The Islamic banking industry has developed a firm foundation and a significant proportion of the banking industry throughout the years.
In Pakistan, there are twenty-two Islamic banking institutions: five Islamic banks and seventeen conventional banks with independent Islamic banking branches.
According to the research, the Islamic Banking Industry expanded by 30.6 percent in the previous calendar year, while 24.2 percent of deposits increased.
The central bank noted: “IBI’s asset growth was driven by private and public sector funding, as well as investments in Shariah-compliant securities,”
In the country, the availability of Islamic banking services rose with the creation of 500 new Islamic banking branches, which contributed to the increase in deposits. Throughout 125 districts the overall number of branches has increased to 3,956, which is around 25% of all commercial bank branches in the country.
“The Islamic Finance News (IFN), a Malaysian branch of the RED money Group, has named State Bank as the best Central Bank in the world for promoting Islamic finance in 2021. SBP had previously received this prestigious award in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2020,” according to the publication.