Proceedings of the 12th Meeting of the COMCEC
Financial Cooperation Working Group
20
7. Member Country Presentation
7.1 The Gambia
Mr. Suleyman GAYE, Planner at Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure, presented
The Gambia’s experience in infrastructure financing through Islamic finance in The GAMBIA.
Mr. GAYE underlined that given the scale of resources needed to address the infrastructure
investment gap in The Gambia, they believe that mobilizing the private sector for this goal has
become imperative. In addition, investment in quality and sustainable infrastructure helps
finance the transition towards a low carbon and low emission transport sectors. He added that
the specific nature of Islamic finance structure and its emphasis on sharing risks make it an
important instrument for Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructural development.
Therefore, the conventions of Islamic Finance are particularly suitable for Infrastructural
development.
Mr. GAYE continued his presentation by sharing information on financing options of the
national transport policy of The Gambia for infrastructural development. He stressed that the
National Transport Policy articulates that the Government will continue leveraging private
investments through the development and use of innovative financial instruments. Mr. GAYE
highlighted that Islamic Finance is one of the Innovative Financial instruments The Gambia can
utilize for Infrastructural Development. He expressed that, Islamic finance investors (banks,
sovereign wealth funds, and other asset managers) have large pools of liquidity that can be
channeled to the Islamic Infrastructure investments with low risks.
Mr. GAYE briefly informed the participants on the project financed under the COMCEC Project
Funding. Afterwards, he expressed the following challenges of The Gambia in utilizing Islamic
finance for infrastructural development:
• Scaling up Islamic finance in The Gambia requires overcoming important legal,
regulatory, and institutional challenges.
• Capacity challenges.
• Inadequate viable Islamic finance-compliant liquidity management instruments.
At the final part of his presentation Mr. GAYE, elaborated on how to enhance the infrastructure
financing through Islamic finance in The Gambia.