MARDAN: Provincial Senior Minister Sirajul Haq has asked people to take advantage of the interest-free system of the Bank of Khyber (BoK) if they want progress and prosperity in their lives.

The senior minister, who holds the portfolio of finance, said this here on Tuesday after inaugurating a new Raast Islamic Branch of the BoK at the Khwaja Gunj Bazaar. Addressing the inaugural ceremony, he said that they had started Islamic banking in a small bank in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa about 10 years ago when Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal was in power.

He said that now the BoK had opened over 100 branches in different parts of the country of which 44 branches were offering Islamic banking.

“With the Islamic banking of BoK, people now have the opportunity to deposit or invest their money in the interest-free banking facility instead of those banks which had the saving system or offering interest-based loans and other business opportunities,” he added.

He said that the non-Muslim countries were now admitting that Islamic banking played a vital role in rapid development and prosperity of a society.

Mr Haq said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had recently attended an international conference concerning banking system in London where the British prime minister said that England had become a hub of Islamic Banking with the investment of Rs3 billion pounds in Islamic banking.

The senior minister said that the BoK’s total reserves had reached Rs16 billion. He said that a country with a loan-based economy could not make progress. He said that the countries availing the World Bank and IMF loans as a routine were mostly unable to freely adopt policies according to own aspirations.

Mr Haq asked the people to avoid spending beyond their means. He said that taking loans had become a trend which could lead to a disaster in the society.

Imran Samad, BoK managing director said on the occasion that they would open 14 more branches of the bank in various parts of the country on the people’s requests. He said that they had been offering loans to small and big entrepreneurs. “We are launching a programme to offer interest-free loans of up to Rs0.2 million to young educated people,” he said.