The Experience of Different Islamic Countries in Using Financial Instruments in Accordance with Shari'ah in the Islamic Inter-Banking Money Market

Islamic banks and financial institutions are faced with many constraints especially in relation to inter-banking transactions with other banks as well as conventional banks. Attaining the money-market instruments which are in accordance with Shari’ah (the religious law) are both limited and diverse in different Islamic countries. Meanwhile, the central bank's short-term financing instruments are often not compatible with the principles and rules of Shari’ah. Hence, with respect to the Islamic banks and financial institutions, the liquidity management by the central bank is still in its infancy and there are still some concerns over the idea whether the money in an Islamic perspective can fulfill its main duty, that is the coordination between the monetary section and the real section through controlling the money supply. Given the importance of this issue, steps have been taken in recent years to expand monetary policy tools in Islamic countries. Emphasizing the experience of countries such as Malaysia, Sudan, Indonesia, and Bahrain, this paper presents and reviews the structure and properties of the tools used by Islamic banks and financial institutions as well as by other banks in order to manage liquidity on the interbank market. Further, the central bank's tools for open market operations and government financial fulfillment in the interbank market are analyzed and finally the tools of the central banks and governments to grant credit facilities as the final lender are discussed.