The Bank of Tanzania will fasttrack regulations to support Islamic banking in the country.

Finance and Planning Minister Mwigulu Nchemba has advised the chairman of the Islamic Foundation Aref Nahdi to liaise with his office to come up with the regulations and have the same effected.

The minister was addressing the inaugural session of the seventh African Islamic finance Summit 2021 held today in Dar es Salaam.

Mr Nahdi had earlier complained that the lack of regulations was holding back institutions that provide the Islamic banking services in the country, and called out the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) for not exploring the matter.

Minister Nchemba nevertheless called on banks already providing the services to “follow the available international standards.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank recently issued Islamic banking prudential regulations and supervision to its members.

Kenya Commercial Bank introduced Islamic banking in Tanzania in 2008 and was recently joined by People's Bank of Zanzibar and Amana Bank.