Islamic Finance and Economic Growth

Due to the inherent instability of the conventional financial system, the demand for Islamic finance has increased. Islamic finance is more stable because it does not rely on debt-based financing. Currently, Islamic finance is one of the fastest growing sectors of economy in the Muslim world in general and in Pakistan in particular and it plays a vital role in the real sector development. This paper investigated the impact of Islamic viz a viz conventional finance on economic growth of Pakistan. For empirical analysis, quarterly data for the period 2006Q3–2017Q4 was utilized. For Islamic finance, the study used total financing (finance plus investment) by Islamic banks, whereas credit given to the private sector by conventional banks was used as the measure of conventional finance. Using GMM method of estimation, our findings revealed that Islamic finance enhances economic growth and also fulfills some specific needs of economic agents which otherwise would have remained unfulfilled by conventional finance. Further, the study also used government spending, investment, trade openness and inflation as control variables.