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Russia’s VEB planning first deals with Islamic Development Bank

KAZAN, May 20. /TASS/. Russia’s VEB development bank plans to announce its first deals with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in the nearest future, Chairman Sergey Gorkov said Friday.

"We assume that we can enter into first deals with the Islamic Development Bank in the nearest future," he said, adding that the bank may announce particular transactions in the autumn this year.

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The Islamic Development Bank is an international financial institution of Muslim countries (56 member-states) headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Federation Council deputy speaker Yevgeny Bushmin said on Friday that the Central Bank and the Russian legislation are not prepared for promotion of Islamic banking in the country.

"There are several opposite viewpoints regarding the question whether the financial legislation is prepared to promotion of partnership finances and Islamic banking in the Russian economy. We stick to the view that neither the Central Bank nor the legislation are prepared to this, and certain measures should be assumed," Bushmin said.

Islamic banking refers to a system of banking or banking activity that is consistent with the principles of the Sharia (Islamic rulings) and is alternative to traditional banking. Sharia prohibits acceptance of specific interest or fees for loans of money (known as usury). For this reason Islamic banks raise their incomes directly from profits of business projects they finance. When attracting money from individuals Islamic banks don’t pay income on deposits to their clients expect for inflation rate, which is set by the state.

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