The US$2.2 trillion global Islamic finance industry is expected to grow 10%-12% over 2021-2022 due to increased Islamic bond issuance and a modest economic recovery in the main Islamic finance markets, S&P Global Ratings said.
The industry continued to grow last year despite the Covid-19 pandemic, although at a lower pace than in 2019, with global Islamic assets expanding by 10.6% in 2020 against growth of 17.3% the previous year.
Islamic finance, which bans interest payments and pure monetary speculation, has been on the rise for many years across markets in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, but it remains a fragmented industry with uneven implementation of its rules.
“Over the next 12 months, we could see progress on a unified global legal and regulatory framework for Islamic finance. Such a framework could help resolve the lack of standardisation and harmonisation that the Islamic finance industry has faced for decades,“ S&P said on Monday.
The industry is expected to receive some support in the coming two years in Saudi Arabia, where mortgages and corporate lending are expected to rise as the country pushes ahead with plans to diversify the economy.
The rating agency forecast global issuance of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, to reach US$140-155 billion this year, up from roughly US$140 billion in 2020, thanks to abundant liquidity and sustained financing needs among corporates and governments.
S&P also highlighted that the full impact of the coronavirus crisis has yet to materialise and more requests for sukuk restructurings and maturity extensions, as well as higher default rates, are expected this year.
Source The Sun Daily