“The debt crisis engulfing USA and European countries is a major cause of concern for the economy of the world and it gives us an opportunity to rethink about the prevalent financial and monetary system and corrective steps wherever required, including structural changes, otherwise the situation may further worsen,” said Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Omari, President Jamaat-e-Islami Hind in a statement on August 11.
Maulana Omari further explained that the prevalent financial and monetary system is fraught with structural weaknesses wherein deficit financing is covered with printing of bank notes and interest-based debts. The effects are cascading and the economy becomes further weak. The case of USA is more dangerous because sovereign bonds, documents purchased by foreign governments, considering its economy to be stable are more than 50% of its total bonds. Any failure of the financial system of the US government will badly affect a number of other countries including our country India. The lavish living standards in the USA far beyond its means, its huge financial commitments to Israel, the various wars including those in Iraq and Afghanistan, and similar factors have eroded its capital base leading to the present situation.
This is a natural consequence of interest-based capitalist system and it calls for consideration of an alternative economic system. Islam offers the ethical interest free economic system which is an option for the world, Maulana Omari concluded.