Pakistan: Interest habit hard to break

Addressed are the challenges that slow any transition from conventional banking to Islamic banking in Pakistan. While Pakistan's Shari`a court has ruled that all operations involving interest are forbidden, the government kept the ban from being implemented by an appeal to the Supreme Court that it was not possible to change the financing methods used by the country. Debt, both owed to the public sector and to foreign countries, has also been a hurdle to Islamicization. Interest will have to be paid on foreign loans regardless of any domestic ban. Thus, some argue, conventional practices need to continue. Nonetheless, Islamic economists like Khurshid Ahmad are not discouraged.