March 30, 2009

As the world's eyes turn to London over the next few days to see whether the G-20 leaders at their April 2 summit can indeed come up with measures to arrest the impact of the global financial crisis and the inevitable march into a pernicious recession, there have been growing calls for a greater role and involvement of Islamic finance in the global financial system and on the G-20 agenda. We have seen unemployment spiraling worldwide, credit being squeezed to both companies and households, and more people sliding into poverty.

In London following a meeting with the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Ian Luder, on Thursday, Ahmed Mohamed Ali, the President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB)Islamic Development Bank (IDB)Islamic Development Bank IDB threw down the gauntlet to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, stressing that should the UK Treasury decide to reverse its decision to postpone a UK debut sovereign Sukuk (Islamic bond) issuance, then the multilateral development bank of the Muslim world, which is flush with liquidity including callable capital of about $17 billion, would seriously consider underwriting such an issuance.