TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-The Financial Services Authority (OJK) reported that as of May 2016 the sharia finance industry had pooled in Rp3,952.1 trillion worth of assets. The figure is made up sharia banks' assets of Rp297.9 trillion, sharia non-banks' Rp74.8 trillion, and sharia capital markets' Rp3,579.4 trillion.
"The role of sharia finances in various economic sectors continues to rise," OJK's director of sharia banking research, development, settings, and licensing Deden Firman said yesterday, August 7, 2016.
The sectors include budget revenues and expenditures funding, private projects, as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises.
He said the increasing role of sharia financial is also evident from the increase in the ratio of sharia assets to GDP. In 2011, the sharia asset only accounted for 30.4 percent of GDP. In 2015, the figure rose to 40.3 percent.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the Islamic financial industry's potential can be used to finance infrastructure projects. "Project financing by sharia products such as sukuk could be explored further," she said during the the World Islamic Economic Forum 2016 yesterday.
BAGUS PRASETIYO | GHOIDA RAHMAH
