Infrastructure Financing through Islamic
Finance in the Islamic Countries
127
Chart 4.4. 4: Islamic Financial Sector Composition in Saudi Arabia (2016)
Source: ICD and TR (2017)
4.4.2. Current Status and Projected Investments in Infrastructure Sectors
The status of infrastructure in Saudi Arabia relative to the averages of the MENA region and
OIC countries is shown in Chart 4.4.5. The status of both overall infrastructure and its quality
in Saudi Arabia (5.2 and 4.9 respectively) is better than the corresponding indices for both OIC
and MENA countries. The same trends are observed in the case of the transport and electricity
and telephony sectors with Saudi Arabia’s index scores (of 4.9 and 5.5 respectively) being
higher than those in the OIC and MENA region.
Chart 4.4. 5: Relative Status of Infrastructure in Saudi Arabia (2017) (1-7 Best)
Source: WEF (2018), The Global Competitiveness Index Historical Dataset
Timetric reports that currently there are 111 infrastructure projects in the pipeline valued at
USD 446.7 billion that are at different stages of development, ranging from announcement to
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Islamic banks Takaful Other Islamic
financial
institutions
Sukuk Islamic funds
371.23
15.12 13.16
52.55
20.60
UD$ Billions
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
Overall
Infrastucture
Quality of overall
infrastructure
Transport
infrastructure
Electricity and
telephony
infrastructure
3.6 3.7 3.5 3.8
4.4 4.3 4.0
4.8
5.2 4.9 4.9
5.5
Index Value (1-7 best)
OIC Average Middle East and North Africa Saudi Arabia