President Jokowi Receives Sharia Finance Award

President Jokowi received an award in Global Islamic Finance Awards “Exellence In Islamic Finance” on Thursday (29/9), at Fairmont Hotel, Jakarta

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo on Thursday (29/9), at Fairmont Hotel, Jakarta, attended Global Islamic Finance Awards “Exellence In Islamic Finance”. The event, which was hosted by Financial Services Authority (OJK) in a series of  International Conference on Islamic Finance 2016, featured the theme “Revitalising Islamic Finance in the New Normal Era“.

In his remarks, President Jokowi said that Indonesia, as the largest muslim population country in the world, has a big chance in sharia economy.

“216 million out of 252 million population in Indonesia, are muslim. This is a chance that we can take in order to promote the development of sharia economy in Indonesia,” President Jokowi added.

Moreover, the President told that Indonesia only exploited 5 percent of its potential, so there are 95 percent opportunity that can still be exploited. “Therefore, I will promote it. Especially, Indonesia has Laws on Sharia Banking,” the President added.

Sharia economy will be more developed because there are Laws on Sharia Compliant  Bonds, Sharia Insurance, and National Committee on Shariah Finance (KNKS) in Indonesia, President Jokowi added.

The 2015-2019 National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN) also prioritizes sharia finance for the next five years. Thus, President Jokowi added, this is the chances that we can take to strengthen and develop sharia economy.

“I think lots of opportunities are still available on finance, business, banking, insurance, halal tourism, meat, cosmetics, and other sectors. I invite you, Ladies and Gentlemen, to immediately take these opportunities,” the President stated.

To conclude his remarks, President Jokowi invited the GIFA awardees to share their positive stories for the development of global sharia economy.

“I hope this year’s GIFA awardees can share their experiences and thoughts, and be inspirations for people to learn, be inspired, and dive into finance sector in order to improve more excellent products and services in sharia economy to the world,” the President said.

Government’s Support to Sharia Finance

Meanwhile, the Head of Financial Services Authority (OJK) Muliaman Hadad said that the sharia finance conference was held to map out sharia finance development strategies for the future.

The strategy, Muliaman added, is expected to be able to mitigate the risks and challenges of the industry and meet the needs of sharia in promoting expansion, as well as sharia finance growth and development in normal era.

Muliaman also said that GIFA is an award for financial industry actors or individual on their successfulness and contribution in developing sharia finance on a global scale.

The Government also fully supports the development of sharia financial sector by launching a Masterplan for Sharia Finance Architecture to provide strategic guidelines for the development of sharia finance in Indonesia and by establishing KNKS.

“Therefore, Indonesia without a doubt has enormous potentials to develop sharia finance in the global economy.

For the record, Indonesia ranks sixth of 28 countries in sharia finance based on Islamic Financial Country Index’s survey in 2016 and will grow more.

On the occasion, President Jokowi was awarded the 2016 Global Islamic Finance Leadership Award.

Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukito, Minister of Agriculture Amran Sulaiman, Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto, Minister of National Development Planning (PPN)/Head of National Development Planning Agency Bambang Brodjonegoro, Head of Global International Finance Awards,  Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II, Governor of Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) Kairat Kelimbetov, Assistant Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia Dato Bakarudin Ishak, ambassadors of friendly countries and representatives of other organizations also attended the event.

(FID/EN)(RAS/MMB/YM/Naster)