LONDON: The research arm of the Islamic Development Bank plans to use blockchain technology to develop Shariah-compliant products, aiming to support financial inclusion efforts across its member countries.
The Jeddah-based Islamic Research and Training Institute said it had signed an agreement with local firm Ateon and Belgium-based SettleMint, with the first stage to focus on a technical feasibility study.
The agreement is the latest effort to combine blockchain technology to tap demand from Muslim investors, with firms from Indonesia to Canada having already received Shariah-compliant certification for their products.
Involvement of the IDB, a multilateral development institution, could also encourage other fintech firms to incorporate Islamic finance to tap markets across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Islamic finance follows religious principles such as a ban on gambling and outright speculation, but until now the sector has focused on traditional retail banking services.
Blockchain involves a shared electronic ledger that allows all parties to track information through a secure network, removing the need for third-party verification.
The IDB said such features would allow for instantaneous clearing and settlement of transactions and asset exchanges, while helping eliminate counterparty risk.
— REUTERS
IDB to develop Shariah-compliant blockchain
IDB to develop Shariah-compliant blockchain
King Abdulaziz Library launches Thara Saudi, Athar initiatives
RIYADH: General Supervisor of the King Abdulaziz Public Library Faisal bin Abdulrahman bin Muammar launched the Thara Saudi and Athar initiatives at the third Saudi Tourism Forum in Riyadh.
Through Thara Saudi the KAPL offers a number of programs that contribute to highlighting cultural tourism, while Athar is an interactive platform inspired by one of the pioneering national documentation projects, “The Encyclopedia of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Speaking at the launch, Muammar said: “The Thara Saudi Arabia is the initiative through which the library seeks to provide a distinctive cultural tourism experience that reflects the rich and diverse history and culture of the Kingdom and aims to present a sustainable vision that contributes to enhancing local culture in global languages.
“It comes as an expression of the efforts of 40 years of cultural and cognitive work, which created a national legacy and a sustainable impact,” added Muammar.
He said the KAPL also launched the Athar initiative, which represents the historical monuments and landmarks mentioned in the encyclopedia of Saudi Arabia, enabling tourists to discover the Kingdom in an unprecedented way.
This project is designed to enhance the Kingdom’s position as a global destination for cultural tourism, and reflects the great diversity Saudi Arabia enjoys.
Through its pavilion at the Saudi Tourism Forum, which was held from Jan. 7-9 at the Riyadh Front, the KAPL seeks to enhance cultural awareness and provide knowledge content that contributes to highlighting the Saudi national heritage, and encourages the exploration of the Kingdom’s unique cultural destinations.
In November the KAPL launched an initiative to position Saudi Arabia as a top global destination for cultural tourism by attracting visitors worldwide to explore the library’s diverse branches.
This project aligns with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 by strengthening national identity, fostering cultural exchange, and supporting sustainable development.
Through its efforts, the KAPL seeks to showcase Saudi Arabia’s rich heritage, folk arts, and traditions, while deepening citizens’ connections to their cultural roots and contributing to economic diversification.
South Africa urged by minister to boycott Afghanistan match in Pakistan
- Minister criticizes Taliban’s decision to ban women’s sport, disband women’s cricket team
- Proteas are scheduled to play Afghanistan on Feb. 21 in group match in Karachi, Pakistan
PRETORIA: South Africa’s sports minister has joined public calls for the Proteas to boycott the Champions Trophy game against Afghanistan next month and criticized the International Cricket Council for not upholding its own rules.
Gayton McKenzie said on Thursday he felt “morally bound to support” a match boycott because the Taliban government has banned women’s sport and disbanded the national women’s cricket team.
“It is not for me as the sports minister to make the final decision on whether South Africa should honor cricketing fixtures against Afghanistan. If it was my decision, then it certainly would not happen,” McKenzie said in a statement.
“As a man who comes from a race that was not allowed equal access to sporting opportunities during apartheid, it would be hypocritical and immoral to look the other way today when the same is being done toward women anywhere in the world.”
The Proteas are scheduled to play Afghanistan on Feb. 21 in a group match in Karachi, Pakistan.
England was also urged to forfeit its match against Afghanistan on Feb. 26 by more than 160 UK politicians on Monday.
McKenzie believed the ICC was also being hypocritical for not upholding its own mandates that member nations develop men’s and women’s cricket.
McKenzie noted Sri Lanka Cricket was suspended by the ICC from November 2023 to January 2024 for government interference.
“This does not happen in the case of Afghanistan, suggesting that political interference in the administration of sport is being tolerated there,” McKenzie said.
“Cricket South Africa, the federations of other countries and the ICC will have to think carefully about the message the sport of cricket wishes to send the world,and especially the women in sports.
“I hope that the consciences of all those involved in cricket, including the supporters, players and administrators, will take a firm stand in solidarity with the women of Afghanistan.”
Pakistan central bank chief expects inflation rate to fluctuate in coming months
- Inflation rate to stabilize within 5-7 percent range by end of 2025, says central bank governor
- Pakistan’s inflation rate slowed to 4.1 percent in December after aggressive policy rate cuts by state bank
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s central bank chief said on Thursday that the country will experience fluctuations in inflation in the next four to five months before it stabilizes within the five to seven percent range toward the end of the year.
Pakistan’s consumer inflation rate slowed to 4.1 percent year-on-year in December 2024. The reductions came at the back of the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) move to cut the key policy rate by 200 basis points to 13 percent in December, the fifth straight reduction since June, bringing cumulative rate cuts for 2024 to 900 basis points.
The reduction in the inflation rate has brought some relief for the masses, which bore the brunt of record high inflation which peaked at 38 percent in May 2023, as Pakistan faced a prolonged economic crisis.
“At the moment it [inflation] has decreased a lot and in the month of January, it will come down a bit further but will then witness fluctuation later,” SBP Governor Dr. Jameel Ahmed said at a news conference.
“But as per our [central bank’s] assessment by the end of 2025, it will stabilize within the target range of five to seven percent, according to the medium-term target by the state bank and the government of Pakistan,” he added.
Ahmed said a collective effort to achieve the medium-term target of five to seven percent will bring relief to Pakistani businesses and the common man.
“But god forbid if there is any volatility in this which we are unable to control then we have seen the disruptions caused to businesses and even the common man in the past,” he said.
The South Asian country is navigating a challenging economic recovery path buttressed by a $7 billion facility from the International Monetary Fund granted in September.
Pakistan’s finance minister has lauded the government’s fiscal measures but warned that the country needs long-term financial reforms to ensure sustainable growth and avoid future IMF bailout programs.
Gunmen abduct over a dozen workers from ‘atomic and mining projects’ in Pakistan’s northwest
- The incident took place in the volatile Lakki Marwat district, a hotspot for TTP's militant activities
- A local analyst says the incident has raised serious questions about the state’s writ in KP province
PESHAWAR: A group of armed men on Thursday abducted more than a dozen people working on “atomic and mining projects” in Lakki Marwat, a highly volatile district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a police official said.
Lakki Marwat is situated on the edge of the tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has frequently targeted police precincts and checkpoints, killing several law enforcement personnel in the past.
Pakistani authorities have often accused the Afghan administration in Kabul of aiding TTP militants in their cross-border attacks, an allegation Afghanistan denies.
Speaking to Arab News, Shahid Marwat, the district’s police spokesperson, said armed men kidnapped “17 civilians,” including the driver of the team working on the mining project.
“This unfortunate incident took place on Dara Tang Road this morning,” he said. “The kidnapped individuals worked on atomic energy's mining projects. A heavy police contingent has also been dispatched to locate the kidnappers.”
Marwat did not share further details, but the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), a government agency responsible for the nuclear energy program, operates mining projects in various parts of the country.
Lakki Marwat has been a hotspot of militant activity that witnessed unprecedented protests last September, when police officers, joined by civil society members and tribal elders, staged sit-ins and blocked the Indus Highway.
The demonstrations followed a spate of militant attacks that killed several policemen, prompting members of the force to demand greater involvement and autonomy in counterterrorism operations.
While no group has officially claimed responsibility for the incident, some media outlets reported the TTP acknowledged its involvement.
Riaz Bangash, a Peshawar-based expert on the region’s security affairs, told Arab News the incident had raised serious questions about the state’s writ in the province.
“The southern districts of KP are totally neglected and are at the mercy of criminals amid vanishing government writ,” he said. “This is despite the fact that at this time all three top provincial officials, including the chief minister, governor, and inspector general of police, belong to these districts. Still, the region is in chaos.”
Bangash emphasized the importance of avoiding politicization of the region’s security issues and urged all political parties to unite and work out a joint strategy to address the “growing insecurity.”
This is not the first time such kidnappings have taken place in the region.
Last June, unidentified gunmen abducted 13 laborers from the southern Tank district of KP, who were later released. In November, armed men also abducted seven policemen from a check post in the northwestern district of Bannu, who were released after mediation by tribal elders.
So far, the government has not issued a statement about the incident.
Asir region to move from planning phase to delivery in 2025, official says
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Asir region is set to shift from the planning phase to execution in 2025, with several major projects, including the Seven Entertainment Complex, scheduled for completion, according to a senior official.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the second day of the third Saudi Tourism Forum held in Riyadh from Jan. 7 to 9, Acting CEO of Asir Development Authority Hashem Al-Dabbagh explained that the entity is working with several parties to ensure that the projects in the pipeline progress this year.
This falls in line with the authority’s aim to attract approximately 8 million tourists by 2030.
It also aligns well with the entity’s goal to transform the region into a global destination that will become a world-class tourist hub, both within the Kingdom and internationally, by striking a balance between development and conservation.
Al-Dabbagh said: “2025 is a very exciting year for a number of reasons. Maybe the first one is that the first large project, Seven Entertainment Complex by the airport, will be completed in 2025. So, we launched a number of projects, but this is the first one that should be completed this year. So, we’re very excited about that.”
He added: “Many of our projects underway, which have to do with the planning of the Asir region, should be completed in 2025. So it’s nice to see us transition from planning and ideation to actual investment and execution in this year.”
The acting CEO highlighted that over the past three years, the authority has been working diligently with all counterparts in Saudi Arabia. He underlined that many agreements with key stakeholders, including government entities such as the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Investment, and the Ministry of Culture, have already been signed.
“We’ve already signed with them, and we have ongoing relationships with all these entities, that allow us to see through our mandate,” Al-Dabbagh said.
“It’s also worthwhile to mention that the Asir Development Authority has a mandate to oversee, to coordinate, and to plan and to make sure everything goes well but the actual development on the ground takes place through other entities that either have a development mandate if they’re a public sector or by private sector entities,” he added.
During the interview, the acting CEO also shed light on how the investment sector within the Asir Development Authority works to distill capital regionally.
“So, they have a pipeline and every investment that we are following is in one of five phases, starting from the ideation phase to the operating phase,” Al-Dabbagh said.
He added: “We have been exceeding our targets over the past couple of years. As a matter of fact, if we sum the number of investments that just the investment sector has in the pipeline, it comes out to about SR28 billion ($7.45 billion), not including PIF (Public Investment Fund) investments. PIF investments are larger than that amount. So, when you add them together, you get a very large number.”
The acting CEO explained that this figure sums up the investments across all phases.
“Now naturally some of these investments are going to materialize and some of them are going to materialize in a way that is different from what we understand today, and some of them will not. So, that 28 (billion) number is sort of a goal if everything materializes as per the plan,” Al-Dabbagh said.
“Asir is the place to be if you are looking to invest in the tourism sector or adjacent sectors in Saudi Arabia,” he added.
The acting CEO explained that Asir is the only region among Saudi Arabia’s 13 areas with an approved strategy from the central government. The vision of this approach is to establish Asir as a premier year-round destination, leveraging its unique cultural and natural assets.
“This is very intimately related to the tourism strategy of Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Al-Dabbagh also discussed the Kingdom’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 2034.
“There are five regions within Saudi Arabia that are going to be hosting this World Cup , and they include Abha. So, Saudi Arabia and its five regions, including Abha, is going to be a host to probably the largest number of visitors coming from an event outside of the religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia,” he concluded.
Organized in partnership with the Saudi Tourism Authority and the Tourism Development Fund, the third edition of the forum features over 100 exhibitors.
It is a comprehensive platform for exploring the latest developments in the Kingdom’s tourism sector.
The event also offers visitors insights into major investment projects, prospects to elevate their skills, and avenues for forging collaboration that drives national tourism growth.
