Role of Islamic microfinance in Bahrain

Quest for innovative ways for the promotion of inclusive growth has been a subject of vibrant academic debate for last many years. The 'easy access to credit' is identified as one of the important factors that enable people to avail growth opportunities. In the contemporary scenario, the financial institutions are becoming more risk averse and in their efforts to minimize non-performing assets, they are reluctant to lend to the people who don't have any stable source of income. At the same time, boosting investment rates in more decentralised micro, small and medium enterprises is also the major emphasis in contemporary developing economies. It is in this context, Islamic microfinance system finds its significance and offers the component for a paradigm shift in the development thinking. While conventional microfinance has been widely acclaimed for facilitating the poor to access financial services enabling their economic empowerment as well as freedom from the exploitations by the unauthorised money lenders, yet it has not adequately addressed their problems. Group-based Grameen model, individual lending, social business, credit union and village lending are the diverse models of microfinance existing in different parts of the world.