Tunisian expert blames government for marginalizing Islamic banks

Chairperson of Tunisian Islamic Financial Assembly Amal Omri criticized the Tunisian government for its delay in taking serious measures to treat the challenges facing the Islamic banks, saying that International Monetary Fund (IMF) called the Tunisian government for taking serious measures to benefit from the Islamic banks and to develop them.
She added, in an interview with "Arabs Today", that the studies they conducted recently proved that the Islamic banks managed to attract large amounts of money working outside the banking framework, adding that a large number of Tunisian people are convinced not to deal with the ordinary banks and turned to deal with the Islamic banks.
She stressed the need for amending the laws to allow the country's Islamic banks compete with their ordinary counterparts, saying that the Islamic banks suffer from exclusion and marginalization. She added that they have been deprived from the Mortgage Finance programs adopted by the Tunisian government.
She added that the Islamic banks aspire to seize 15 percent of the total banking assets in 2022, as it already gained five percent during 2016, according to formal reports, while the reports faced critical challenges, including the banking legislations.
She blamed the current laws for their failure to compete with the other banks in a number of economic vital sectors, stressing that the current approach undermines the role that could be performed by the Islamic banks to push forward the Tunisian economy.