Vice President Ma'ruf Amin: The Pandemic Shouldn't Stop Digital Sharia Economic Literacy

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin asked all parties to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic situation, when almost all activities switch online, to increase digital sharia economic literacy.

This was conveyed by Vice President Ma'ruf at the XX National Scientific Meeting (Temilnas) in 2021 which was held virtually by the Diponegoro University Islamic Economics Study Forum (FoSSEI), Semarang, Monday, July 26.

"The commitment of all parties to synergize should not be hindered by a pandemic situation. Instead, this situation should encourage the acceleration of the use of digital technology so that the reach of education and socialization is wider," said the Vice President, quoted from Antara.

According to the Vice President, the literacy ability of the community towards the Islamic economy and finance is an important factor to achieve the successful development of the sharia sector.

"The higher the Islamic economic and financial literacy in the community, the higher the use of halal and sharia-compliant goods and services by the community," he explained.

Furthermore, said Ma'ruf Amin, the high level of public literacy and the use of sharia products can encourage sustainable economic growth and sharia finance in Indonesia.

Referring to the report from the Financial Services Authority (OJK), the Vice President continued, the national Islamic financial literacy rate is still relatively low at only 8.93 percent. Meanwhile, based on data from Bank Indonesia (BI) in 2020, the National Sharia Economic and Social Financial Literacy Index is 16.2 percent.

"This condition reflects that hard work is still needed to increase public understanding of Islamic economics and finance," said the Vice President.

Efforts to increase public literacy can be done through formal education, academically, vocationally, and professionally; as well as non-formal education in the form of socialization.