Poverty, Hunger Are Underlying Topics For 4th Islamic Finance Annual Symposium

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 (Bernama) — The International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (Inceif), the World Bank and Islamic Research and Training Institute (Irti) have zeroed in on poverty and hunger as the underlying topic for the Fourth Annual Symposium on Islamic Finance. Themed, “Islamic Finance, Inclusion and Poverty Alleviation”, the two-day symposium which started today, is aimed at continuing the conversation from previous editions on the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on poverty and zero hunger. “These two objectives are indeed pertinent, particularly to the Muslim world, where a sizable population still lives below the poverty line,” said Inceif President and Chief Executive Officer, Prof Dr Azmi Omar. Based on UN data, the number of people living in extreme poverty has dropped to 838 million in 2015 from 1.9 billion in 1990. Against this background, Azmi said Inceif together with the World Bank and Irti, have stepped up efforts to promote awareness of the importance of Islamic finance in supporting the SDGs. He said although the size of Islamic finance was small compared to its conventional counterpart, its value propositions are in tandem with SDGs. The five pillars of Maqasid Shariah, which are the protection of faith, life, posterity, property and reason encapsulate the 17 SDGs. “There is a critical need to promote the creation of knowledge and comprehensive understanding on how Islamic finance can play a pivotal role in achieving SDGs. “By combining our strength and expertise, we can promote Islamic finance to be the key reference for those looking for an alternative view to what is commonly presented in the mainstream,” Azmi said. During the symposium, speakers and panelists from various institutions will shed light on pertinent issues involving poverty and food security, with presentation of case studies from Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. They will discuss ideas and developments on policies to eradicate poverty, improve living standards, the well-being of all people and promote inclusive societies. -- BERNAMA