The development of Islamic finance sector in Africa has provided the economy with numerous benefits in key markets. AADLC focuses on capacity building to support the Africa’s development on the major schemes that will enhance the supervisory architecture in order to facilitate the management of financial cross-border linkages.
Since 2012 the Association of African and Distance Learning Center (AADLC) and the Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) have came with initiative of a comprehensive course “Introduction to Islamic Finance”. The course was designed and organized to share fundamentals of Islamic finance with a special focus on policy makers and officials of the financial sector in Africa.
Islamic finance has been growing rapidly in recent years and attracting greater attention in the wake of the recent financial crisis. The World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank have set out a framework for collaboration between the two parties and lend support to global, regional and country efforts in the development and expansion of Islamic finance globally.
During course delivery which this year was conducted in three Countries (Tanzania, Uganda and Madagascar) through video-conference, and moderated by AADLC president Mr. Mor Seck and AADLC General Secretary Mr. Charles Senkondo, Mr. Etsuaki Yoshida who has been teaching Islamic finance at the Waseda Graduate School of Finance as a visiting associate professor says, “the total global assets of Islamic banking were $1.3 trillion, which is estimated to be $1.6 trillion by the end of 2013”.
Mr. Yoshida adds that statistics by Global Islamic Finance Report show that Islamic finance grew consecutively at a compound annual rate of 15 to 20 % over the last decades. Most interestingly, Islamic financial system has proved inherent resistance to the recent global economic crises during 2008 to 2012.
Mr. Yoshida believes that there are a variety of challenges facing the Islamic finance industry specifically in facilitating cross-border financial flows, particularly between the emerging economies and finding the proper means to increase international participation in Islamic financial markets. Additionally, it is vital to hit upon the next generation of Islamic finance solutions.
While facilitating the final session of the course from TaGLA, the Executive Director and Secretary General of Association of Africa Distance Learning Centres (AADLC) Mr. Charles Senkondo underpinned the role technology can play in bringing rich experience across regions.
