The Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) will in the next few days, release the sum of $150 million as support for the development of Special Agro-Processing Zones in the country.
Vice President, Country Operations, ISDB, Dr. Mansur Muhtar, stated this during a panel session at the 5th African International Conference on Islamic Finance.
Speaking on “Infrastructure Financing, Sustainability and the Future of African Markets”, Muhtar explained that Islamic finance offers a lot of features and practices that could support infrastructural growth in the country.
“Islamic banking is asset backed and based on participation and risk sharing, we also have to look at other elements which are the social and environmental sustainability that are consistent with Islamic principles of supporting infrastructure.
“At ISDB we focus on projects in social and fiscal infrastructure, to implement these projects we place a lot of emphasis on regional connectivity,” he said.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) had earlier disclosed that it was collaborating with other multilateral organisations to finance the first phase of Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones in some selected states across the country with the sum of $520 million.
Muhtar, therefore, called for an effective legal and regulatory framework that will enforce the legality of finance contracts and ensure Sharia compliance in order to reap the benefits of Islamic finance.
