Islamic banking in Uzbekistan has great future

Islamic banking in Uzbekistan has great potential, Bakhrom Numonov, Chairman of the Board of the Apex bank credit organization said.

The main part of the republic's population professes Islam, and about 20% of citizens do not use ordinary banking because of the prohibitions of their faith.

The demand for Islamic banking is growing, Numonov said. In his opinion, this tool can attract up to $10 billion to the republic every year.

"At the moment, regulatory sandboxes have been created in the country for testing Islamic financial products. Ministries and the Central Bank are working to create a legislative framework for the functioning of Islamic finance",

Bakhrom Numonov said.

He added that the trend was that Islamic banking had recently been developing all over the world. Today, global Islamic finance assets are close to $4 trillion.