AMMAN: Jordan’s top religious official yesterday issued a fatwa banning electronic trading in currencies due to the “financial risks” involved.
“Trading in currencies is a taboo and illegal from a religious point of view, given the financial risks involved in such transactions,” the country’s grand mufti, Nouh Salman, said.
“Such transactions are tantamount to gambling,” Salman said, alluding to electronic currency trading by a number of Jordanians who suffered heavy losses and were forced to sell real estate and their wives’ jewelry.
The Jordanian government recently enacted a new law to regulate the trading of currencies through the Internet after scores of citizens went bankrupt when they suffered big losses in currency trading with foreign markets.
Jordan, which follows an open-market policy, is not expected to adopt the mufti’s recommendations in this respect, financial analysts sabid.
