The Fatawa in Islamic Banking and Financial Industry: Explaining the Use of Darurah (Dire Necessity) and Hajah (Need) MaximsFatwa, Fiqh, Islamic banking, Maqasid, Provision

The Government of Sharjah (the Government) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has listed a USD 200 million Sukuk, through its Trustee, Sharjah Sukuk Programme Limited. The sovereign Sukuk, which was issued on the 19th of March 2020, is set to mature on the 19thof March 2035. The financing facility carries a profit rate of 3.85%, payable semi-annually, with the first payment scheduled for the 19th of September 2020.  According to the IslamicMarkets Sukuk Monitor, the proceeds from the Sukuk programme will be paid over by the Trustee to the Government as the...

VIS Credit Rating Company Limited (VIS) reaffirmed its long-and short-term entity ratings on Yunus Energy Limited (YEL) at A+ and A-1 respectively with stable outlook.A long-term rating of A+ was assigned, with VIS citing good credit quality and sufficient protection factors as justification for the rating. VIS stated that risk factors could vary in line with possible changes in the economy. The entity’s short-term rating of A-1 reflects VIS’ high certainty of timely payments, strong liquidity factors supported by sound fun...

Aqar Real Estate Investments Company (the Company) has obtained a one-year Murabahah credit facility from Boubyan Bank, with the option to extend the programme.  An announcement from Boursa Kuwait stated that the financing will be rescheduled within three to six months. Additional details on the value or purpose of the facility were not disclosed. Earlier this week, on the 17th of March 2020, the Company announced the receipt of a KWD 2.2 million financing facility, from an unknown bank in Kuwait. This facili...

Local press cited that the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) measures to support individuals with non-performing loans lower than EGP 1 million, via plans to annul debts worth EGP 9.9 billion. The CBE measure covers principal loans to the value of EGP 11.3 billion, and interest payments worth EGP 4.25 billion, in which relating to about 940,000 customers.  Furthermore, The CBE also expects lawsuits against about 220,000 individuals to be dropped once this initiative is rolled out.  As a part...

Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, announced that Turkey would provide concessions over debt payments and tax cuts in various sectors under a TRY 100 billion (USD 15.4 billion) package, to soften the impact of COVID-19 on the country’s economy. The President announced a series of measures including reduction in taxes for businesses, minimum wage support, as well as an increase in the minimum retirement salary to TRY 1,500. In his announcement, the President further stated that loan repayments will be deferred for up to three...

The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) unveiled an OMR 8 billion incentive package to strengthen the economy against the impacts of COVID-19. In a circular issued by the CBO banks were instructed to reduce their Capital Conservation Buffers (CCB) by 50% to 1.25%, and increase their Lending ratio by 5% to 92.5%. The CBO also announced a reduction to its repo rate by 75 basis points (bps) and an increase in the tenure of repo operations up to a maximum of three months. Furthermore, reductions in...

The Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) has started preparing the insurance sector to meet the requirements of Aceh Province’s Law for the Islamic Financial Institutions (LKS) of 2018. This regulation stipulates that all financial institutions in the province of Aceh must carry out their activities based on Islamic principles, effective the 4th of January 2022. Sekar Putih Djarot, OJK Spokesman, mentioned that a series of preparatory steps have been taken to...

Malaysia’s Economic Stimulus Package 2020 introduced by the Government of Malaysia, (GoM) aims to effectively deal with the economic risks posed by the novel COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the GoM is concerned about the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on the Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Malaysia’s Finance Minister stated that local banks had initiated various programs to provide support to SMEs and affected individuals.  Part of these support measures for SMEs inclu...