Kazakhstan should adjust its legislation for Islamic finance: Kelimbetov

Kairat Kelimbetov ©pm.kz

The 4th Kazakhstan Conference on Islamic Finance took place this Wednesday. In his speech at the conference Governor of Kazakhstan's National Bank Kairat Kelimbetov declared it was necessary for the Central Asian country to adjust its legislation to facilitate development of Islamic finance, Tengrinews reports.

He said that Kazakhstan's central bank was studying other countries’ experience in implementation of this type of financing. "The National Bank is ready to provide assistance, including financial one, for the development of the industry," hesaid.

Kelimbetov suggested developing Islamic finance in Kazakhstan stage by stage and named three key areas that had to be improved to give Islamic finance a go in Kazakhstan.

“The human capital is the first one. We will be training international level experts in Islamic finance. Special grants will be made available for this. The government and the National Bank will provide the funding. In addition, we will be paying special attention to educating the population about the basics of Islamic finance, not only in Almaty and Astana (Kazakhstan's largest cities) but also in other regions of our country," Kelimbetov said.

The second stage will involve improvement of the country's legislation and building up the infrastructure needed for Islamic finance, he said. Kazakhstan has signed a technical assistance agreement with the Islamic Development Bank to help it with the latter part.

"The introduction (of Islamic finance in Kazakhstan) should progress gradually, as we need a better understanding as to where we want to get. For example, it took Malaysia and Turkey about 30 years and the share of Islamic banking in these countries is around 20 percent and 5 percent," he said.

The 4th Kazakhstan Conference on Islamic Finance took place this Wednesday. In his speech at the conference Governor of Kazakhstan's National Bank Kairat Kelimbetov declared it was necessary for the Central Asian country to adjust its legislation to facilitate development of Islamic finance, Tengrinews reports.

He said that Kazakhstan's central bank was studying other countries’ experience in implementation of this type of financing. "The National Bank is ready to provide assistance, including financial one, for the development of the industry," hesaid.

Kelimbetov suggested developing Islamic finance in Kazakhstan stage by stage and named three key areas that had to be improved to give Islamic finance a go in Kazakhstan.

“The human capital is the first one. We will be training international level experts in Islamic finance. Special grants will be made available for this. The government and the National Bank will provide the funding. In addition, we will be paying special attention to educating the population about the basics of Islamic finance, not only in Almaty and Astana (Kazakhstan's largest cities) but also in other regions of our country," Kelimbetov said.

The second stage will involve improvement of the country's legislation and building up the infrastructure needed for Islamic finance, he said. Kazakhstan has signed a technical assistance agreement with the Islamic Development Bank to help it with the latter part.

"The introduction (of Islamic finance in Kazakhstan) should progress gradually, as we need a better understanding as to where we want to get. For example, it took Malaysia and Turkey about 30 years and the share of Islamic banking in these countries is around 20 percent and 5 percent," he said.

The third area that Kazakhstan needs to work on to introduce Islamic finance is a proper marketing strategy and reliable partners. Kelimbetov said that "attracting financial institutions of the Middle East and South-East Asia" to Kazakhstan was crucial for the strategy to be successful.

Reporting by Azhar Ashirova, writing by Dinara Urazova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina

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