INCEIF Knowledge Repository (INCEIF University)
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Microfinance through Islamic banks and zakah (A novel practice)
No full textThe failure of the current microfinance programmes in financing with zero interest and eradicating poverty encouraged the authors to look at a recent practice which can achieve such goals. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to present one of the Islamic approaches of microfinance which is currently practised in Sudan and which succeeded in financing with zero-interest through Islamic banks and zakah. This research used qualitative method in gaining some insight into the problem and to find the alternative solution. To achieve this, secondary data was used by referring to annual reports, World Bank reports from relevant web sites, the central bank’s policies, published books, articles and journals. The results present the practical Islamic approach of micro-financing through Islamic banks and zakah, thus nullifying the misconception that banks are institutions which are not set up to provide financial services to the poor and needy
Takaful: the great potential in Nigeria
No full textThe article considers the potential of takaful to become a strong segment of the Nigerian insurance market. Topics discussed include the growth of the Nigerian economy in 2015, the emerging opportunities in the country's life insurance market, and the inclusion of microtakaful the could increase financial access and inclusion among lower-income Nigerians
Qard-ul-hasan and micro financing
No full textEight years have passed since 2005, the year that was labelled as that of micro finance by the United Nations to reflect the importance of financial inclusion of the poor and enforcement of policies that attain thic objective. The labelling of the microfinance year implied the recognition of the fact that conventional financial institutions have globally failed to include poor and vulnerable families for their financial services
Does the shadow economy matter for tourism? International evidence
No full textTourism is an important sector that contributes to government revenues, national income, foreign exchange earnings as well as provides job and business opportunities for many nations. In 2013, international tourist arrivals reached a record 1.1 billion worldwide, with USD1.2 billion in international tourism receipts. At the same time, the shadow economy in the tourism sector also flourished. In the European countries, Schneider reported that 20% to 25% of the shadow economy is represented by tourism-related industries, wholesale and retail, automotive and motorcycle sales and maintenance; transportation, storage and communications; and hotels and restaurants. Services given by these operators (unregistered and/or underreported) will ultimately be wiped off the map of high-quality tourist destinations and destroy the development of the tourism industry itself. This study examines the short-run and long-run dynamics between international tourist's arrival and shadow economy for 141 countries over the period 1995-2008. We used an error-correction model (ECM) combined with a system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to explore the long-run relationship between these two variables. Our results suggest that tourists' arrival and shadow economy are cointegrated. The long-run coefficients indicate a negative impact of the shadow economy on
the tourism sector. This implies that the shadow economy plays a significant role in the global tourism industry
Criteria for determining the Shari'ah compliance of shares: a fiqhi analysis
No full textAs the Islamic finance industry continues to gain popularity in the financial sphere, the number of faithful investors who are interested in Shari'ah-compliant avenues for their investments also continues to increase. One of the most important of these is the equity market. However, it is evident in today's world that it is hard to find a joint stock company whose activities are completely compliant to Shari'ah principles and rulings. As a share of a company represents all the activities and underlying assets of the company, the Shari'ah noncompliance issue can emerge in the share. While the primary activities of a company are Shari'ah-compliant, its peripheral activities may be impermissible from the Shari'ah viewpoint. Meanwhile, the assets of the company can also be in the form of cash, debt, goods, usufruct or rights, which can raise the issue of trading ribawi (interest-based) items. Thus, the study addresses the issue of Shari'ah compliance and tradability of shares that represent a mixture of halal (permissible in Islamic law) and haram (impermissible in Islamic law) activities and assets
A spindle for Islamic finance institutions
No full textMaldives is a 100% Muslim country situated in the Indian ocean. The country is a famous tourist destination. The economy of the country heavily depends on tourism. The growth of Islamic finance in the country is fast though the initial development was slow. 2014 is a remarkable year for the growth of Islamic finance in the country as numerous initiatives to develop and sustain Islamic finance took place. New players considered coming into the market and existing players played hard to dominate the market. The main focus of the year was to develop a talent pool required for the sustainability of Islamic finance in the country and also to develop a comprehensive legal and regulatory framework for Islamic banking and takaful by the central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority, in affiliation with IDB and Islamic Shariah and Research Academy (ISRA), Malaysia. The introduction of the Halal logo of Maldives marked the tapping into the Halal industry as well. The revival of waqf via Islamic finance mechanisms was initiated too. All these developments made 2014 a very fruitful year for Islamic finance in the Maldives and creates new hope for 2015
Exploring the invisible universe: from black holes to superstrings
No full textExploring the Invisible Universe covers the gamut of topics in advanced modern physics and provides extensive and well substantiated answers to these questions and many more. Discussed in a non-technical, yet also non-trivial manner, are topics dominated by invisible things - such as Black Holes and Superstrings as well as Fields, Gravitation, the Standard Model, Cosmology, Relativity, the Origin of Elements, Stars and Planetary Evolution, and more. Just giving the answer, as so many books do, is really not telling anything at all. To truly answer the "why" questions of nature, one needs to follow the chain of reasoning that scientists have used to come to the conclusions they have
Essays on risk sharing and economic efficiency
No full textEconomists and scholars have identified that risk shifting is the root cause of global financial crisis. Unfortunately, the danger of this debt-financing feature has been neglected. One piece of evidence is that global debt continues to grow at record level post crisis. Recognizing the relationship between risk shifting and the global financial crisis, this study encourages the need to curb this feature by defining types of securities that may induce firms to engage in risk shifting ..
Issues in Islamic banking and finance: Islamic banks, Shari’ah-compliant investment and sukuk
No full textThis introductory article of the special issue “Islamic Banking and Finance II” highlights various studies on fast-growing Islamic finance industry. It focuses specifically on Islamic banking and Islamic capital market research. To date, scholarly research on Islamic finance is mainly confined to empirical verification of its performance on the argument that the Islamic finance is distinct from conventional finance. While more works need to be done to soundly and concretely justify the viability of Islamic finance, future works should aim at placing the Islamic foundations of the industry in proper theoretical settings beyond the statement that it is different. In addition, theoretically and empirically, demonstration of its bearings on economic well-beings and policies such as economic stability, financial inclusion, economic development, and stabilization policies is neede
Risk shifting and Islamic banking
No full textRisk shifting is, axiomatically, absent in an ideal Islamic banking system, where equity holders are expected to share assets' upside and downside potential with investment account holders (depositors). The Islamic banking model, thus, provides unique paradigm with risk sharing at its core. However, the present formation of Islamic banking has grown out of conventional banking and uses many of its techniques and instruments. Whereas significant research has delineated the theoretical foundations of Islamic banking and its axiomatic characteristics, empirical assessment of the implications of present form Islamic banking is relatively limited and often focused on issues of efficiency, profitability and stability. The main objective of this dissertation is to make the initial attempt to empirically investigate the risk shifting behaviour in Islamic banks in dual banking systems of OIC member states1, using Merton (1977) and Duan et al. (1992) models. Also, unlike existing literature, this study controls for dynamic bias by applying the two-step dynamic difference GMM to an unbalanced panel of 272 conventional banks and 75 Islamic banks from 2002 to 2013 ..