IslamicFinance.de

Despite all the instability and continued sectarian violence in parts of Iraq, the country’s few Shariah-compliant lenders see chances to expand their business. As a result of the ongoing internal conflicts since the toppling of the regime in 2003 by the US, Iraq has been widely reduced back to a cash economy. Cash payments keep dominating the economic system because the majority of the population does not have a bank account. According to World Bank data, just about 11% of Iraqis use the services of formal banking institutions. However, Islamic banks reckon that the majority of the Iraqi population does not use banking services because most of them fail to comply with the provisions of Islamic law. Islamic banks currently account for 1.5% of total assets of Iraqi banks, amounting to nearly 3tn dinars ($2.55bn), this could grow to nearly 6% in the coming years if the political and economic environment improves and the necessary legislation gets introduced.