Praise be to God that peace and blessings be upon the Prophet, his Family and Companions
Mister Chairman,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is an honor for the Republic of Djibouti to host, for the 5th consecutive year, the Annual Summit of Islamic Banks in Africa. It is an even greater pleasure for me to welcome you here in order to tackle an issue that would help us better accomplish our most legitimate goals, namely the economic and social development of our Nations.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Islamic financial industry has evolved considerably over the last decade. Today,its importance and effectiveness are well established, and it is no longer confined to Muslim countries but has gradually permeated Western markets. Islamic financial assets have indeed recorded an average growth of 17% since 2007, to a value of over US $ 2,000 billion in 2015. If the interest for Islamic finance is growing, worldwide it is also mainly due to the fact that it has strong features in terms of transparency and banking regulation.
Thus, through its resistance to shocks and propensity to innovate, Islamic finance is no longer just as an alternative to conventional finance, but gradually tends to position itself as a benchmark in the global financial industry. As such, Islamic finance has been identified by the United Nations as a key instrument to achieve the new goals of sustainable development goals.
Ladies and gentlemen, policy makers and practitioners of Islamic finance, thanks to your tireless efforts and the expansion of your work, you have demonstrated that finance could be reconciled with the ethical and that Islam was not incompatible with the business world. That success is yours.
It is clear, however, that the penetration of Islamic finance in Africa is still very low, the assets allocated to the continent being estimated to be between 1 and 2% depending on the source. This fact is even more alarming when you factor in the fact that Africa accounts for half of Muslim of the world’s Muslim population.
Furthermore, African countries continue to register sustained growth, and remain full of largely still untapped opportunities, which again bodes well for future growth prospects. In this context, experts agree that Islamic finance is going to experience strong growth in Africa in the coming years, and in particular in the market for sukuk.
According to the estimates, the continent needs more than 90 billion US dollars per year to finance its development in infrastructure and Islamic finance is more than able to mobilize the necessary financial resources.
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
One of the main components of our development strategy is the promotion of an efficient and robust financial system. As such, thanks to the transformation process initiated in recent years, the Djiboutian financial market which only had two conventional banks in 2006, has grown and diversified both in number and quality and consists of eleven banks today including three Islamic ones as well as an investment bank.
To fully support and continuously strengthen the influence of our financial center, we pay special attention to the review and periodic updating of regulations in line with international standards, under the responsibility of the Central bank.
Therefore, just like conventional banks, Islamic banks now have a specific legal framework, complemented by the recent establishment of a National Committee of Sharia, whose members are with us here today. These are Islamic banks, that show a real vitality which gives them, a growing market share year after year.
Distinguished guests,
Economic growth is not an end in itself but a means to achieve social and collective ideals at the center of which is human development.
Therefore, besides the implementation of social programs and safety nets geared towards the poorest segments of our population, we have initiated a new framework for sustainable development, titled "Djibouti Vision 2035". Throughout this new framework we intend strengthen and diversify our sources of growth, in order to create enough jobs for our youth and drastically reduce poverty.
Achieving these objectives requires major investments in such areas as infrastructure, energy, water, light manufacturing, among others.
Therefore, the issue of appropriate and sustainable financing of these investments as well as those facing access to finance for small and medium enterprises, acutely arises across our entire continent.
So yes, Africa needs access to significant funds by the Islamic financial industry to support its development, at the same time Islamic financial institutions need to seize the enormous investment opportunities, on the continent.
To achieve this, it is crucial that we focus our discussions on the ways and means to remove the obstacles to the rapid development of Islamic finance in Africa.
In light of this, the worthy project which brings us together for two days of intense reflection and enriching exchanges, must be the appropriate framework for finding concrete solutions to boost the growth of Islamic finance on the continent. For, in addition to opening up new horizons in the financing of our development, Islamic finance, is more in line with our principles and moral values.
I remain confident that your discussions will be fruitful and will bring about a roadmap to promote the development of Islamic finance on the continent.
Thank you for your attention