UAE investors plan $200 mln Islamic bank in Sudan

DUBAI, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Investors from the United Arab Emirates and Islamic financial institutions plan to set up an Islamic bank in Sudan with capital of $200 million, the new bank’s founders said on Tuesday.

Emirates and Sudan Bank is expected to be launched next year in Khartoum with declared capital of $200 million and paid capital of $100 million, the founders said in a statement.

Sudan’s central bank has given its approval to the bank, the statement said. Central bank officials in Khartoum could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Sudan’s economic indicators are generally positive and forecasts … suggest that the country is poised for an economic upswing, particularly after the latest developments with the peace treaty,” said Mohammed Khalfan bin Kharbash, chairman of Dubai Islamic Bank (DISB.DU), who heads the founders’ committee.

Kharbash is also UAE’s minister of state for finance and industry.

A Sudanese official said last week that Sudan’s government and a rebel group would sign a peace pact in January to end 21 years of civil war in the south of Africa’s largest country.

Islamic banks do not pay or charge interest, considered usury by many Muslims. Money is made by using a system of profit-sharing from returns on approved investments.