The Islamic Finance Research Institute of Ghana (IFRIG) successfully organized the 2024 edition of its flagship programme, the Islamic Finance International Conference (IFIC) on October 5, 2024.

The event that took place at the Omanye Aba Hall of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) was on the theme ‘Should economies take advantage of non-interest banking?’

At the end of deliberations and a five-member plenary session, it was abundantly clear that the time is now for all stakeholders to team up and work towards the realization of a non-interest banking ecosystem with the aim of diversifying the economy.

Policy, politics and advocacy were identified as the three areas of focus after the deliberations:

a.Policy level – It is abundantly clear that Ghana’s current banking laws while admitting the need for diversification of the economy needs urgent amendments to allow for the full roll out of non-interest and other emerging banking and finance models. This point was firmly made by Dr Johnson Asiama (former Bank of Ghana deputy governor) and buttressed by Prof. John Gatsi and other panellists.

b.The political reality – Multiple speakers commended IFRIG for formal presentations made to the manifesto committees of the major political parties ahead of the 2024 polls, this they said was a sure way of influencing policy but that it was important to follow up on deliverables. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid (former Information Minister) stressed the importance of having political assurance and will to drive policy during his address, other speakers weighed in on same.

c.Sustained advocacy – Despite being in its fifth year, the consensus from participants and experts is that groups like IFRIG and its allies cannot let their guard down relative to advocacy efforts around non-interest finance. It is, however, time to scale up efforts by actively engaging especially Christian clergy specifically and Christian groups and communities generally on the issue – a point emphasized by Mallam Attahiru Maccido (IFRIG board member) and other speakers.

IFRIG, by this communique wishes to thank all partners, analysts and participants at this year’s event for their time and resources.

The march towards the realization of a non-interest banking industry continues unabated.

At the end, we got a concrete response to our theme ‘Should economies take advantage of non-interest banking?’ – a resounding YES.

About IFRIG

IFRIG is first and foremost, a research institution focused on the Islamic Banking and Finance ecosystem in the country and West African subregion.

"Our efforts currently pivoted in the area of research, advocacy and capacity building has the medium to long term aspirations of leveraging on research to usher Ghana into an incremental adaptation of Islamic finance – banking and insurance," a post on their website read.

The annual international gathering which started in 2020, has pooled together experts from Ghana, the West African subregion and beyond to continue sharing perspectives on the importance of non-interest banking and finance for the wider socio-economic good of Ghana specifically and the global economy.