Title: Commitment of Islamic banks to long-term economic development and society welfare: the Sudan experience

Authors: Abuzar M.A. Eljelly

Addresses: School of Management Studies, University of Khartoum, P.O. Box 321, Khartoum, 11115, Sudan

Abstract: This paper attempts to evaluate the overall commitment of Islamic banks in Sudan to the economic development and social welfare, by analysing the pattern of financing provided by these institutions to the interested parties. The study developed three hypotheses with respect to the issue at hand and used annual data to test these hypotheses. The results indicated that the stated hypotheses of the study: commitment to long-term economic development, community development and social welfare, and risky investments could not be supported. The results revealed that there have been steady decline in the proportion of banks funds which were allotted to the long-term economic development, community development and social welfare, and risky investments in Sudan. The study helps in directing attention to the search for new ways of bringing Islamic banks to true spirit, and not artificial Islamic finance. Microfinance, new sub-institutions, entrepreneurship activities and private equity-like investments are only a few in that regard.

Keywords: Sudan; Islamic finance; economic development; society welfare; long-term commitment; banking industry; Murabahah; Mudarabah; Musharakah; Salam; Islamic banks; community development; risky investments; microfinance; entrepreneurship; private equity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMB.2016.075858

International Journal of Islamic Marketing and Branding, 2016 Vol.1 No.3, pp.238 - 251

Received: 26 Dec 2015
Accepted: 26 Dec 2015
Published online: 09 Apr 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article