Jakarta
Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has encouraged the National Committee for Sharia (Islamic) Economy and Finance (KNEKS) to develop the sharia finance industry in Indonesia, as there is still ample space for it.
“There is still a lot of space for development of the sharia finance industry in Indonesia,” Amin stated at an International Conference on The Future of Islamic Capital Market: Opportunities, Challenges and Way Forward, held virtually by KNEKS, Thursday.
The sharia economy and finance sector in Indonesia has been progressing rapidly despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, he remarked.
While referring to the 2020 Islamic Finance Country Index (IFCI) report, the vice president noted that Indonesia was ranked second after Malaysia, out of the 42 countries surveyed on Islamic finance.
The State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2020/2021, placed Indonesia on the fourth rank in the world, up from the fifth ranking in 2019 and ninth position in 2018.
“Indonesia’s success in occupying this ranking shows that the Islamic economy and finance sector in the country is experiencing fairly rapid development, even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he pointed out.
Hence, the vice president expressed hope that relevant parties would stay optimistic in developing the sharia economy and finance in Indonesia.
“This, of course, can foster a spirit of optimism and confidence for all of us stakeholders, investors, and business actors in the sharia economic sector,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati noted in her speech that Indonesia can prevent the nation’s economic condition from deteriorating amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Indonesia prevented an economic downturn, with the economy in 2020 having only contracted about two percent.
The first quarter of this year showed an improvement, with a contraction of 0.7 percent,” she pointed out.
Economic recovery in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic should entail continued joint efforts by the government to prevent a decline in the national economy, Indrawati remarked.— ANTARA NEWS
