Mubasher: Global Islamic assets are expected to grow 9.4% to $3.7 trillion by 2022, Haitham Al Salama, chief economic adviser at the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) said.
Al Salama ascribed the hike of Islamic assets to a slew of factors, including the rising demand of traditional investors who prefer Sharia-compliant banking services.
In 2016, Islamic assets worldwide rose to $2.2 trillion from $200 billion in 2003, he added, citing Qatar News Agency’s (QNA) data.
Qatar's Islamic financing assets jumped 11% to $107 billion during the period between the years 2012 and 2016, according to the QFC's report.
This increase was attributed to the growth of Doha's banking sector by 13% to $89 billion in the same period.
Over the past few years, Islamic banks of the world’s biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have owned around 94% of the Sharia-compliant banking assets with a total value of QAR 323 billion in 2016, the report added.
The QFC said that Islamic lenders have recently become the key driver of the Islamic financing growth.
Sukuk accounted for 15% or QAR 57 billion of total Sharia-complaint financing, Reuters and the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) early said in a joint report.
