Algeria Looks at Islamic Financing to Boost Post Coronavirus Crisis Economy

Algeria has initiated the offering of Islamic financial products, in a move to lure the country's informal money market to the banking sector. The Algerian economy has suffered an unprecedented decline due to the COVID-19 epidemic and drop in global oil prices; experts have warned of a 15% increase in unemployment, whilst the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts a 5.2% year-on-year (YoY) contraction in Algeria’s gross domestic product for 2020.

The majority of cash flow within Algeria, Africa's largest country, takes place outside the banking sector, said an Islamic finance expert, Professor Mohamed Boudjelal, with many Algerians frowning upon the existing conventional banking system, as being incompatible with Shar...