Despite Being Revised, BI Is Optimistic That Sharia Financing And Economy Will Still Grow

Bank Indonesia (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) estimates that the growth in Islamic banking financing in 2025 will slow down by 8 percent to 11 percent or lower than the previous target of 11 percent to 13 percent.

However, the Head of the BI Department of Sharia Economics and Finance (DEKS), Imam Hartono, said that it is estimated that the economy and financing of sharia will continue to show positive growth.

However, he said there were a number of challenges in encouraging Islamic banking financing, namely the projected 2025 economic growth which was lowered to around 4.6 percent to 5.4 percent and the dynamics of the global economy.

Imam emphasized that global dynamics certainly has an impact on the economy, both sharia and conventional, but this is actually an opportunity to optimize the strategy for developing the Islamic economy and finance in the country.

"But of course we will continue to monitor this later on how it develops. So if you say that there is a global impact, it is certain. So it means that this global and economic impact is actually common in nature, both in terms of sharia and conventional," he said in a BI media briefing, Wednesday, June 4.

He explained that the sharia ecosystem must be made attractive and requires the role of various parties in increasing Islamic financial literacy and inclusion.

Imam explained that currently, public literacy in Islamic finance is quite good, but the level of inclusion is still low, and this is different from conventional financial systems, where the level of inclusion tends to be higher than literacy.

According to him, this condition shows that there is great potential that can be optimized, so that one of the strategies that will be carried out by Bank Indonesia to encourage the growth of Islamic banking is to increase public literacy in Islamic financial products.

In addition, he highlighted that there are still many people who think that Islamic financial services tend to be more expensive than conventional products.

"Right now, we, together with relevant ministries/agencies through the simulation, are trying to carry out the simulation in terms of understanding," he said.

In addition to education, he said that BI is also trying to develop Islamic financial products that are more in line with the needs of the community, one of the latest initiatives is to encourage the presence of Sharia Restricted Investment Account (SRIA) products, the results of collaboration between BI and the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

Meanwhile, SRIA is a sharia investment instrument that provides flexibility for investors to determine the limits of managing their funds, in accordance with certain business projects or sectors.

Imam hopes that the presence of SRIA can expand the choice of sharia investment instruments while increasing public interest.

On the other hand, he said that BI and OJK also continue to support the development of sharia business units in banks, so that people have more alternative Islamic-based financial services.

"But it's also not enough. Because we sharia business actors have to be strengthened, strengthened so that I can survive, so that I can be filtered," he explained.

As a further step, he emphasized that BI is trying to bring together the corporate sector with sources of sharia financing and synergy, which is expected to be able to encourage more sustainable economic and Islamic financial growth in the future.