Shariah-compliant Finance in Saudi Arabia hits $430 billion

Saudi Arabia witnessed rapid growth in Islamic financing with the total Shariah-compliant financing amounted to more than $430 billion, while the total volume of Shariah-compliant deposits amounted to $433 billion by the end of the second quarter of this year, Arab News quoted Fahad Al Mubarak, the governor of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) told an Islamic finance conference in Jeddah.

The Islamic financial industry achieved an annual growth of more than 10 per cent, he said citing a report of the Islamic Financial Services Board for the year 2021, brin ging Islamic finance to about $2.7 trillion in 2020 from $2.44 trillion in 2019.

The total assets of Islamic financial services in the banking sector, Sukuk sector, insurance sector and investment funds sector in the kingdom amounted to nearly $800 billion, which represents approximately 28 per cent of the total Islamic financial assets globally, he added, citing the same report.

“This growth and this advanced rank in the Islamic financial industry in the kingdom comes in order to achieve the objectives of the kingdom’s Vision 2030,” Al Mubarak said in his speech.