Ishaq Dar reaffirms govt’s commitment to promote Islamic finance

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Friday reiterated the government’s commitment to promote Islamic finance and eliminate the interest-based system in Pakistan.

The minister, while virtually chairing the second meeting of the Steering Committee on Implementation of Federal Shariat Court’s (FSC) Judgment on Riba, assured the complete support of the Finance Ministry to the committee for achieving its objectives.

Besides the committee members, the meeting was attended by the State Bank of Pakistan Governor, Secretary of Finance, and senior officers from the Finance Division and SBP, a news release said.

The minister also appreciated the significant progress that had taken place since the formation of the transformation plan developed by the SBP in terms of awareness, capacity building, legal and regulatory reforms, and adoption of international standards for the purpose of conversion of the conventional banking system into the Shariah-compliant system.

The meeting also discussed the demand and supply side challenges being faced by the task force in eliminating Riba from the financial system, and various measures to be taken to address the same within the timeframe.

Ishaq Dar also expressed his confidence that under the chairmanship of the SBP governor, the steering committee would be able to complete the task efficiently.

He further instructed all the stakeholders to work with commitment, sincerity and understanding to overcome all the hurdles in the way of implementing of the interest-free system and making the system feasible and stronger so that all citizens would aspire for it.