Islamic Finance and Economic Growth Nexus: An Econometric Analysis

Researchers have written chain of research papers about the dynamics of financial development and economic growth. The financial capital plays a productive role when it delivers to economic agents who are facing shortage or excess of funds.  This study explores the linkages among Islamic financing and economic growth for Pakistan, by using annual time series data from 2005-2018. Islamic banks’ financing funds used as a proxy of Islamic financing, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), labor force (LF),Broad money(M) and Trade openness (TO) to presents real sector of an economy. For the exploration, the unit root test, Ordinary least square technique and Granger causality test are applied. The results validate a substantial causal relationship of Islamic financing and GDP, which supports the Schumpeter’s supply-leading view. The results indicate that Islamic finance contributed towards economic growth.