IslamicFinance.de

The Zakat Fund paid JD200,000 to release 386 women who were imprisoned after failing to paying back their loans in 2017. The release came as part of the fund's programme “Sahm Al Gharimat”, funds allocated for indebted women, which aims to release women who cannot pay for their freedom, the fund’s director general, Abed Smeirat, told a newspaper in Jordan.
According to Islamic law, or Sharia, Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam, a tax that requires paying 2.5 % of what a Muslim owns in cash money, gold, silver, cattle, farms and rentable assets, in alms. People who are burdened with debt that has been obtained for reasonable purposes are one of the eight categories of groups entitled to receive Zakat money, which is, in principle, managed by the state and is the only type of tax Muslim citizens are required to pay.

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) the second sukuk issuance on behalf of the National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) at a total value of JD75 million, 4.1% returns and a five-year maturity period. The bank reported that demand on the sukuk was 2.73 times the value of the issue, having received orders for JD205 million-worth bonds. The CBJ said the high turnout underlines the increasing demand on the financing tools compatible with the Islamic Law, which have been lacking in the local market during past decades. The bank said the success of this issuance was a result of the continuous coordination of the Finance Ministry, the CBJ, NEPCO, the Jordan Securities Commission and the Central Sharia Oversight Commission.

The Central Bank of #Jordan (CBJ) announced it will release the first sovereign issue of Islamic sukuk to fund the government's special purpose vehicle projects. The CBJ said the value of the new issue is JD34 million for a five-year term, to be issued on October 17, 2016 and due on October 17, 2021. The CBJ expected these sukuks' revenues to stand at 3%, with paying revenues, after adding a percentage of the sukuk value, via 10 equal payments on April 17 and October 17 of each year. The issuance is released in cooperation between the government, Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector. The CBJ is the issuance manager, while the Jordan Dubai Islamic Bank is the secretary of the issuance.

Jordan Investment Commission (JIC) President Thabet Al Wir highlighted the Jordanian experiments in Islamic banking and halal food as a gate for cooperation with Germany to support the Kingdom's investment and economic environment. At a meeting with a German delegation representing the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and the German Federal Ministry of Finance, Wir described the Jordanian expertise in Islamic banking as top at the regional and international levels. The Kingdom is also among the first countries to accredit the Islamic banking system, he said. The presence of many Muslim communities in Germany provides a chance for the country to benefit from the Islamic system in its banking sector, the JIC president added.