JEDDAH: The 56-member Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has invited Islamic banks for an urgent meeting at its headquarters next Saturday to discuss the impact of the current world financial crisis which was also expected to have an influence on the Islamic economies, Al-Eqtisadiah, a sister publication Arab News, reported yesterday quoting IDB President Ahmad Muhammad Ali.
According to Ali, the meeting will seek ways and means of dealing with this crisis with a view to mitigating its impact on Islamic banks. He added that the meeting would also look at the opportunities available for Islamic banking system.
Al-Eqtisadiah also quoted the secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu as saying that the IDB Group is only body in the OIC which was authorized to discuss the repercussions of the international crisis. He also said the OIC was in constant contact and complete coordination with the IDB in this regard. According to the reports of the IMF, the Islamic banks have spread in 48 countries in the world and were able to go out from the Islamic markets to the international markets.
