Islamic finance could help close infrastructure funding gap, says ADB

Tokyo

AS THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) gear up to face the US$8 trillion challenge of providing Asia with vital infrastructure, Islamic finance is emerging as another potential major source of funds.

Capital markets in non-Islamic financial centres such as Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Luxembourg and elsewhere stand to gain from an expected surge in the issuance of Islamic financial instruments tailored to meet the needs of long-term infrastructure projects, experts say.