Global Islamic Finance Forecast to Grow as Main Markets Recover – S&P

Global Islamic Finance Forecast to Grow as Main Markets Recover – S&P

The $2.2 trillion global Islamic finance industry is expected to grow 10 percent -12 percent 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 slower pace than in 2019, with global Islamic assets expanding by 10.6 percent in 2020 against growth of 17.3 percent the previous year.

Islamic finance has been on the rise for many years across markets in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, but remains a fragmented industry with the 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. We believe that such a framework could help resolve the lack of standardization and harmonization 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.

Investments in Qatar for the 2022 soccer World Cup and the Expo event in