Suriname and Guyana Officials Participate in Islamic Bank workshop

Governor Glenn Gersie of the Central Bank of Suriname (R) thanks Hylmun Izhar (L) and Yahya Aleem-ur Rehman to share their knowledge on Islamic Banking and Finance.

Pamaribo, Suriname, 16 Rabiul Akhir 1438/15 January 2017 (MINA) – Suriname and Guyanese officials participated on January 9-11 in a workshop on Islamic banking and finance, which was conducted by the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), an arm of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and which was held in Paramaribo, Suriname.

Both Guyana and Suriname are members of the IsDB.

The training was conducted by Oxford educated economists, Yahya Aleem-Ur-Rehman and Dr Hylmun Izhar. Rehman is a Rhodes Scholar and has a master’s in development management from the London School of Economics (LSE), and a master’s in politics and economics from the University of Oxford, Caribbean news Now reported on Friday.

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Izhar an expert on Islamic banking and finance has conducted training courses on the subject in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Suriname has emerged as the first country in the Americas and the Caribbean where Islamic banking has been introduced. This was the result of long-standing cooperation with the IsDB.

Islamic banking is welcomed as an alternative to existing forms of financing, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. This form of funding will should contribute to economic activity in Suriname, a press release from the Central Bank of Suriname said.

The central bank is aware of the specific challenges of Islamic finance, both for the bank and for the financial markets. The purpose of this workshop was to educate participants of the laws and regulations of Islamic banking and its supervision.

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Specific aspects such as double taxation, corporate governance, corporate governance and risk management were addressed as they relate to Shariah compliance.

Apart from officials of the Central Bank of Suriname, representatives of various ministries and institutions, such as the ministry of finance, the director of taxes, GLISS, Bureau of Statistics and officials of the Central Bank of Guyana participated in the workshop.

In October 2015, IRTI also funded a four-day training, titled “An introduction to Islamic Development Economics, Banking and Finance”. Several financial institutions participated in that training.

The delegation of the IsDB will assess and identify the limitations in the current legal and institutional framework of Suriname affecting Islamic banking in that country, and they will make recommendations to spur the industry. (T/RS05/RS01)