DHAKA, June 03, 2018 (BSS) – The investments with the Islamic banking accounts have increased by 18.10 percent at end of the January-March quarter of 2018 compared to the corresponding period of the preceding year, 2017.
“Among different segments of Bangladesh’s Islamic finance Industry, Islamic banking industry dominates. The Islamic banking segment continued to show rapid expansion in terms of growth of assets, deposits, investments, and number of account holders,” a Bangladesh Bank (BB) senior official told BSS here today.
He said now the Islamic banking sector accounts for more than 20 percent market share of the entire banking sector and it plays a significant role in mobilizing deposits and financing different sectors of the economy.
According to the BB latest data, the total investments (loans in conventional sense) in Islamic banking sector stood at Taka 2,09,147.92 crore at the end of January-March 2018 quarter, which went up by Taka 8,045.92 crore or by 4 percent compared to the previous quarter and by Taka 32,054.25 crore or by 18.10 percent compared to the same quarter of the preceding year.
During the January-March period, the total deposits in the banking industry reached Taka 2,15,557.93 crore, which increased by Taka 1,298.51 crore or by 0.61 percent compared to the previous quarter and by Taka 25,300.23 crore or by 13.30 percent compared to the corresponding quarter of the last year.
The Investment-Deposit Ratio (credit-deposit ratio in conventional sense) reached 0.97 in January-March 2018 quarter which was 0.94 in the previous quarter and 0.93 at the end of March 2017.
The total remittances mobilized by the Islamic banking sector stood at Taka 9,039.97 crore at the end of January-March quarter, which was higher by Taka 2,379.80 crore or by 35.73 compared to the same quarter of the preceding year.
The number of branches of Islamic banking sector including Islamic branches or windows of conventional commercial banks stood at 1,181 at the end of the January-March quarter, which was 1,168 during the previous quarter and 1,052 during the same quarter of 2017.
After analyzing the sector-wise investments, it is observed that investments in the trade and business sector was 29.56 percent, which was highest among all sectors at the end o f January to March quarter 2018.
The next position was occupied by Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), which stood at 28.27 percent followed by industrial sector (25.41 percent), others (6.69 percent), real estate (6.17 percent), agriculture (1.64 percent), transportation (1.41 percent), electricity, gas and water supply (0.77 percent) and poverty alleviation (0.09 percent).
In the quarterly report, BB said Islamic banks should pay more attention to Research and Development (R&D) to devise proper guidelines and policies to promote investments under the mudaraba and musharaka modes.
As sharia’h is the backbone of the Islamic banking industry, a comprehensive Islamic legal infrastructure with clear ground and commitment is necessary to help expedite Islamic financial industry to spur as it intends for ensuring human welfare, the report added.