Govt Committed to Eliminate Interest-Based System in Pakistan: Dar

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar Friday emphasized the commitment of the government to promote Islamic finance and eliminate the interest-based system in Pakistan in true spirit. The minister made these remarks while virtually chairing the second meeting of the Steering Committee on the implementation of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC)’s judgment on Riba. State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor, Secretary Finance, members of the Steering Committee, and senior officers from the Finance Division and SBP attended the meeting. The minister appreciated the significant progress that has taken place since the formation of the transformation plan developed by SBP in terms of awareness, capacity building, legal and regulatory reforms, and adoption of international standards, for the purpose of conversion of the conventional banking system into Shariah compliant system. The meeting also discussed the demand and supply side challenges being faced by the task force in eliminating Riba from the financial system and deliberated upon various measures to be taken to address those challenges within the timeframe. The minister expressed his confidence that under the chairmanship of the SBP Governor, the committee will able to complete the task efficiently. He further instructed all the stakeholders to work with commitment, sincerity, and understanding to overcome all the hurdles in the way of the implementation of an interest-free system and make the system feasible and stronger so that all citizens would aspire for it. Dar assured complete support of the Finance Ministry to the committee for achieving its mandate and desired objectives.