ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar on Wednesday announced that the government will withdraw the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and National Bank of Pakistan’s (NBP) appeals against the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) direction to the government for complete transformation of the banking system to Shariah-compliant banking by December 2027.
The Federal Shariat Court had announced the verdict in April. The court had directed the federal and provincial governments to amend relevant laws to make the country’s banking system interest-free by December 2027. The central bank and commercial banks had subsequently filed appeals before the apex court against the verdict.
However, the finance minister during his presser here in Islamabad declared that after the permission of prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and consultation with SBP governor, he has decided to withdraw the appeal. “I’m announcing on behalf of the federal government that the SBP and NBP will withdraw their appeals from the SC and our government will fully try to as quickly as possible, implement an Islamic system in Pakistan”, he said.
He further said that shifting the entire banking system to an interest-free system would take time but nonetheless, the government has decided to go for it.
