As of December 2015, Kuwait had the fifth largest share of Islamic banking assets and the sixth largest share of Islamic funds globally, according to a June 2017 report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This in a country with a population of just 4 million.
“Looking ahead, and notwithstanding challenges posed by the lower oil prices, the economic diversification effort could help drive further growth in Kuwait’s Islamic banking industry,” said the IMF report. It noted that Kuwait’s banking sector is the most developed part of the country’s Islamic finance industry, consisting as it does of fully fledged Islamic banks, with Islamic windows of conventional banks not permitted.
