AL-EQTISADIAH Newspaper
The U.S. Treasury Department will seriously consider the most prominent features of Islamic banking, a necessary step before attempting to effectively tap regional capital. If successful, it could help address the financial crisis still coursing through the arteries of the global economy which has baffled a full spectrum of economic experts. The action represents a fundamental shift in perceptions about Islamic banking in the wake of efforts to stabilize financial flows during the global financial upheaval, forcing American officials to consider in depth principles that underpin Islamic banking while leaving behind caustic rhetoric linking this type of exchange with terrorism…
Daniel Best, an economic analyst with the Reuters news agency says a large number of Middle Eastern investors are reluctant to invest in U.S. financial markets after the attacks of September 11, 2001… They feared being unjustly linked to the activities of radical Islamic groups. Grant Smith, supervisor of the IRmep, an American research group focused on policy and bilateral US-Middle East economic development stressed the important principle of reciprocity between the Gulf and American investors, “Regional investors have not yet forgotten the U.S. reaction to the Dubai Ports World proposal to invest and manage port facilities, which was nullified on the basis of vitriol and unfounded accusations.”
“Sovereign wealth stock and investment funds are among the fastest growing sectors in the Islamic financial system. If American government officials expect to tap their potential they first need to align themselves to basic precepts which underlie Islamic banking: high moral principles. At the present time, rebuilding confidence and returning to bilateral relations based on higher ethical standards are first steps toward improving capital flows.”