In retrospect, it is clear that a vast amount of capital was squandered. Many businesses and a number of countries are struggling with high debt levels. Governments that ran economies on cheap credit are now paying a high price in the form of austerity measures and unemployment. In parts of Europe, unfinished infrastructure and empty buildings are not uncommon sights. Chart 3: Productivity growth in advanced economies Productivity growth has been declining in advanced economies since the beginning of the 2000s. The willingness to invest has been low since the financial crisis. To what extent this is  3  In 1814 Norway entered into a personal union with Sweden, under the Swedish king who reigned from Stockholm. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  related to the economic downturn remains to be seen. Better times may eventually entice investors, but it is also possible that the substantial changes in the global economy have had a more lasting effect on the willingness to invest and the growth capacity of western economies. Chart 4: Real wages in mainland Norway, US and Germany A demanding restructuring process is underway in the traditional industrialised countries. In the US and Germany, real wages have barely risen since the turn of the millennium. Income inequality has deepened. This may in part be related to the global change in the price of labour. In other countries, particularly in Europe, economic restructuring is throwing a large number of people into unemployment.

The ability of Islamic banks to structure Investment Account in accordance with the risk profile and characteristics of the underlying assets offers an attractive opportunity for customers to diversify their investment portfolio across various halal sub-sectors. Second is the wide network of Malaysian financial institutions in facilitating halal exports to tap into regional markets. Increasing interest from ASEAN countries which makes up 42% of the global Muslim population as well as demand from non-Muslim dominated Asian countries such 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  as Japan, Korea and Vietnam provide a huge halal consumption base for domestic halal businesses to tap on. Currently, three Malaysian financial institutions have leveraged their extensive global network and strategic partnerships to assist halal exporters in gaining access to new markets. Moving forward, Malaysian financial institutions should take advantage of the strong government-to-government (G2G) ties and multilateral strategic cooperation in the halal sector between countries to offer Islamic trade finance to halal industry players. The third factor is the ability of Islamic financial institutions to facilitate businesses to transition towards more sustainable practices. The underlying concept of Maqasid Shariah which propagates for the attainment of benefits as well as preventing harm, resonates well with sustainability principles that call for a balanced, sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Adopting sustainability practices is imperative to ensure the longevity of businesses. Failure to take this into account may result in substantial financial loss to the halal industry given that our trade partners have started imposing expectations on sustainability as preconditions to transact.