MARAWI CITY—A three-day Islamic finance training was conducted on April 23-25 in Davao City to capacitate Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) managers in adopting a Halal finance system.

The training aimed to equip BARMM managers with essential knowledge in Islamic finance, facilitating the development of programs, activities, and projects following the General Appropriations Act of the Bangsamoro (GAAB) for Fiscal Year 2024.

Islamic finance offers several risk-sharing financing instruments that provide a viable alternative to conventional debt-based financing, which include Shari’ah-compliant microfinance, SME financing, and micro-insurance (micro-takaful). 

It also offers several unique redistributive instruments such as zakat (alms), sadaqah (donation), waqf (endowment), and qard al-hasan  (benevolent loan) that complement risk-sharing instruments and can play a vital role in alleviating poverty and enhancing the financial inclusion of the population’s low-income segments.

Minister Ubaida Pacasem of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Management (MFBM) mentioned the need for active participation and contribution of managers in BARMM to move forward with the agenda of promoting and establishing Islamic finance as a key driver of the socio-economic development of our people and as a pillar of realizing the Bangsamoro government’s promise for Moral Governance.

“After this training, we pray that we would move even closer in our goal of mainstreaming Islamic or Shariah-compliant finance in our programs, activities, and projects, In Shaa Allah,” Pacasem said.

World Bank’s Senior Financial Sector Specialist Radu Tatucu emphasized that the workshop is part of the continued partnership between them and the BARMM Government in deepening the Islamic finance market.

“The World Bank believes that we can support this country (Philippines) in advancing financial inclusion through Islamic finance, which has a formal account penetration rate of 51.4 percent, according to the Global Findex Database 2021,” he said.

Highlights of the training include the presentations, discussions, and open forum on a series of topics related to Islamic finance applied globally both in Muslim and non-Muslim countries, and towards the end of the presentation was a panel discussion on developing Islamic Finance in BARMM.

During the training, Bangsamoro Mufti Abdulrauf Guialani underscored the three pillars of Sharia law that have shaped the understanding of Islamic finance such as the prohibition of usury (interest), gharar (excessive uncertainty), and maysir (gambling).

“We, therefore, hope that by intensifying training courses on Islamic finance like this, the concept of Islamic finance will be consolidated and crystallized in the Bangsamoro region, and we will strive to make it prevail in most of our financial transactions and financial contracts so that the Moro people will achieve rapid and sustainable financial growth, In Shaa Allah," stressed Guialani.

Since 2021, the MFBM has been spearheading initiatives to institutionalize Islamic finance in the Bangsamoro region. (BIO,PIA Region 10-Lanao del Sur)