Don: Islamic Finance Best Option To Bring Global Economy On Track

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 (Bernama) -- Islamic financial system is the best option to bring back the global economy to the right track, says Prof Datuk Dr Sudin Haron, chairman of the Russian Centre For Islamic Economic and Finance international advisory panel.

"As a result of the global economic crisis, people don't believe in the conventional system anymore. People believe that as a result of speculation, manipulation and interest rates, the global financial crisis happened.

"Islamic banking does not believe in these things. We prohibit manipulation and speculation. Interest rate is totally condemned by Syariah (Islamic principles).

"So, now people start looking what is the best alternative to substitute the conventional system," Sudin, a scholar with vast experience in banking and finance, management and business management, told Bernama in an interview.

Islamic financial system was one of the options, he said, adding that " it is the only option to study."

Dr Sudin said many countries have started to acknowledge the importance of Islamic banking and finance.

For instance, he said, France Finance Minister Christine Lagarde had announced in December last year that she wanted to see whether regulations or the legal system in France could accommodate Islamic finance.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the world needs to have a new dimension in the financial system, he said.

Putin had said Russia, being the centre between the West and the East, was the best country to study "what is the best system to replace the existing system."

"I can see a huge potential for Islamic banking and finance," said Dr Sudin, who is also president of the Kuala Lumpur Business School and executive chairman of Vision Bridge Sdn Bhd.