Thread by @BilalAlHabashi

#Muslims r one of the most financially excluded citizens in #Ethiopia & their primarily reason is #Riba. But I wonder how & where the data for such reports are collected? "Financial inclusion in Ethiopia: 10 takeaways from the latest Findex" tinyurl.com/ydhmd738 via @WorldBank

Citizens who identify themselves as #Muslims account for 34% of the #Ethiopia'n population (CSA, 2007). This large segment of the society was demanding Shari'ah Compliant #finance for long time. Banks first responded by introducing 0% interest A/C #financialinclusion @WorldBank

Banks attracted millions of customers and mobilized billions of Birr in deposits. Sadly, customers were unaware that these deposits are not #ShariahCompliant and they were subjected to successive devaluations which has impacted them a lot. #financialinclusion #Ethiopia @WorldBank

Banks are here the beneficiaries as they were getting free cost deposits for their conventional business. #ZamZam Bank (under liquidation) was the first to come up with a fully-fledged Interest Free Bank #IFB (#Islamic Bank) #financialinclusion #Ethiopia @WorldBank

Though it has fulfilled the threshold capital then, it was unable to start business as a new directive (on October 1, 2011 only allowed the window model. Since then 10 Banks have started an #IFB window service & business is booming 4 them! #financialinclusion #Ethiopia @WorldBank

They have currently 2 M+ customers at this new service. They have also mobilized close to 20 B Birr in deposits but deployed less than 5 B Birr. Mind you this is apart from the 15+ billion 0% int A/C deposits in their conventional wing #financialinclusion #Ethiopia @WorldBank

But still there is a huge demand 4 the service in many parts of #Ethiopia which the Banks couldn't (don't want) 2 attend. All deposit products offered by these banks are similar & only one financing/investment scheme is offered by very few of them #financialinclusion @WorldBank

The National Bank of #Ethiopia has admitted the limited availability of of #ShariahCompliant financial services in its National #financialinclusion strategy. But no concrete strategic direction were set 2 unleash its full potential 👉#IFB #Takaful #microfinance #Sukuk @WorldBank

The reason 4 lack such clear strategy is because of the alleged "absence of data on the demand". They have relied on data crunched by @WorldBank #findex survey. Are the results in #Afar #Somalia #Assosa #Harari #DireDawa #Wallo etc the same with the other regions of #Ethiopia?

The National Council for Financial Inclusion that is accountable to the #PrimeMinster #AbiyAhmed should revise the current strategy so that every citizens have #AccesstoFinance and #Ethiopia achieve the objectives set out regarding #financialinclusion @fitsumaregaa @TweetMoFED

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