Harnessing the value of Islamic finance for infrastructure projects, in the context of SDGs

The success of infrastructure projects in using Islamic finance has inspired project benefactors (equity investors) in countries such as Bangladesh, Djibouti, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan to continue to pursue Islamic finance, along with conventional finance, in undertaking yet to come infrastructure projects. (WB and IsDB Report, 2017)

Remarkable progress was made globally in translating the MDGs into reality with a huge reduction in the levels of lifethreatening poverty over 2000-2015. Most regions of the world experienced poverty reduction during this period.

Nonetheless, poverty reduction was very slow in some regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Income inequality has also very narrowl...