Islamic Economy well Positioned for Sustainable Development

According to Al Jazeera, Dr. Yousef Khalawi, Secretary-General of the Al Baraka Islamic Economics Forum, emphasized that Islamic economics is better equipped than “positive economics” to achieve sustainable development, noting that its foundations rest on partnership and risk-sharing rather than debt-based lending.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Khalawi stated that although the total volume of Islamic financial assets worldwide remains modest compared to the global economy, Islamic finance continues to grow at a faster rate than the conventional economic system.

He added that recurring global economic and financial crises place Islamic economics before two major responsibilities: first, to work toward “humanizing” positive economics by refining many of its harmful practices; and second, to enhance sustainability within the Islamic economic framework itself.

The Saudi economist, who is participating in the Sixth International Conference on Islamic Finance, is currently attending a two-day conference in Doha titled “Advancing Ethical and Sustainable Economy: Islamic Financial Solutions to Environmental, Social, and Economic Challenges in the Digital Age.”

Positive economics—as opposed to normative economics—is a branch of economics concerned with describing and explaining economic phenomena. It focuses on factual analysis and cause-and-effect behavioral relationships, involving the development and testing of economic theories. The older term for this approach is “value-free economics” (German: wertfrei).

Source: Al Jazeera