IslamicFinance.de

The share of national income going to wages across industrialized countries has fallen from over 66 per cent in the early Eighties to around 61 per cent, according to the OECD. Globally, the decline is even sharper – from 62.5 per cent in 1980 to 54 per cent in 2010, according to the United Nations. Rising pay inequalities at the same time as a falling wage share mean even less of the rewards of growth go to the working people who create them. The World Economic Forum itself has at least finally put deepening income inequality at the top of its list of global concerns. The world economy is wage led, and if the wages increase, then the greater spending power boosts growth.

The first sukuk proposed by Osborne will only be valued at £200m, but it would make Britain the first non-Islamic country in the world to issue sovereign sukuk. However, ensuring that the sukuk are watertight in their compliance with sharia will be the acid test for Osborne. If they’re not, they are rendered pointless and a huge waste of time and money. If Osborne’s sukuk have a successful debut, it will herald a greater level of fiscal openness and consensus between the Islamic world and Britain. But it is highly unlikely this policy will make a difference to the life of the average British Muslim, and issuing a few culturally-catered bonds will not even begin to address the rampant inequality and instability of a British economy.