Islamic banks will continue to grow as economies recover
The international credits ratings company is optimistic about the potential for Islamic banking in Asia, including in Pakistan
That Islamic banking has grown exponentially in Pakistan is a well established fact, covered extensively by this magazine alone. The number of Islamic banks in Pakistan have grown in the last two decades from just two at the start of the 2000s, to now, twenty-two. Similarly, Islamic banking constituted just 0.8% of all banking deposits in 2003, but accounted for 18% of total deposits in 2019.
One can see this growth reflected in deposit numbers as well. Between 2003 and 2018, deposits in the conventional Pakistani banking system grew at an average rate of 20.2% per year, according to data from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), from Rs1.8 trillion to Rs13.4 trillion.
