Jakarta, Indonesia, March 25, 2022 – Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) President and Group Chairman, H.E. Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser, addressed the Global Islamic Investment Forum (GIIF) which was organized by the Indonesia Hajj Fund Management Agency (BPKH) in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Dr. Al Jasser, who touched on many important development and investment issues, stated that the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath have significantly impacted all sectors of economies, including the financial industry, and that the ongoing crisis has created an atmosphere of extreme volatility, with unsustainable growth leading to a rise in inflation, debt, and income inequality.

“As a result of the impacts of the pandemic, over 51 million people in our member countries have been pushed into extreme poverty. In addition, about three out of four IsDB member countries are dependent on commodity exports, and more than one-third are in fragile and conflict-affected situations,” he stated.

To tackle these and other development challenges, Dr. Al Jasser noted that the IsDB's Realigned Strategy (2023-2025) focuses on boosting recovery from the economic losses inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic while laying the foundations for tackling poverty, building greater prosperity, and sustaining inclusive and green economic growth.

“To achieve these strategic objectives, IsDB will finance priority development projects in its member countries under two strategic pillars: (i) develop green, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure and (ii) support inclusive human development. Across these priority areas, the IsDB will mainstream the cross-cutting priorities: Islamic financial ecosystem development, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and women and youth empowerment” he said.

Dr. Al Jasser stressed that non-conventional measures are needed to solve many of these issues. They are grounded in the core tenets of the Islamic economic and financial system.

“The global Islamic finance industry is projected to reach US$ 3.7 trillion by 2024, showing signs of healthy growth in banking, capital markets, and Takaful sectors. The Islamic finance market is still emerging as a fast-growing industry globally,” he added.

Regarding the role the IsDB will play in utilizing social finance to meet the current challenges Dr. Al Jasser underlined IsDB's commitment to using social financing to mitigate the pandemic's repercussions and overcome financial constraints, funding gaps, and financing inequities. “We believe that Islamic social funding can stimulate economic activity and promote social welfare, financial inclusion, and shared prosperity by utilizing the traditional instruments such as Zakat, Sadaqa, Waqf and microfinance through modern tools such as blockchain, fintech, and artificial intelligence” he said.

In the same spirit of innovation and diversification, he noted that IsDB has contributed to revitalizing the developmental role of Awqaf by establishing the Awqaf Properties Investment Fund (APIF) in 2001 to achieve sustainable financial returns and social impact entirely aligns with the Bank's Ten-Year Strategy and the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

The IsDB President commended discussions between BPKH and the Indonesian G20 committees to showcase Awqaf as an alternative social finance framework, disclosing that the IsDB Group would like to reconfirm its commitment to work with BPKH and Indonesia's G20 team to bring this important endeavor to fruition. He also praised the solid and productive partnership between BPKH and IsDB resulting from the Cooperation Framework Agreement signed on 31 May 2018.