Given their predominately Muslim populations and market size it might be expected that Islamic finance would be highly developed in the economies of North Africa. In reality, however, Islamic finance remains on the margins of the financial systems, with the major developments happening elsewhere, notably in the economies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Malaysia. In this paper the obstacles to the development of Islamic finance are examined, politics being the major inhibitor, through a case study of the leading Islamic banks in North Africa. Given its large population size and substantial economy, Egypt is the subject of much of the paper, but the experiences of other countries where Islamic finance has gained a foothold will also be examined, notably Tunisia, and Morocco where there have been important legislative developments.
Islamic finance, North Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, politics.