UK: The State of the Global Islamic Economic Report 2023/2024 London Launch

DinarStandard, a US-based research and advisory firm, alongside the London Muslim Shopping Festival 2024 and the Muslim Travel Show, jointly released the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2023/2024 at ExCeL, London on the 24th February 2024. The report is supported by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET).

The report’s findings were presented by Conor Clifford Murphy, Partner, DinarStandard. Following the presentation, a panel of industry leaders discussed recent trends impacting the Muslim consumer market and the future landscape. The panelists included:

• Zara Mohammed, Secretary General at Muslim Council of Britain
• Datuk Musa Yusof, Deputy Director General of Tourism Malaysia
• Mohamed Ali Harrath, Founder, Islam Channel
• Kerim Ture, Co-founder, Salam Booking
• Altaf Alim, Co-founder, Aab
• Farzana Rahman, Managing Director, The Desi Doll

 

First launched in 2013, the tenth edition of the report (2023/24) presents an annual update on the Islamic Economy – encompassing halal products, Islamic finance, and lifestyle sectors and services. This year’s 10th SGIE report, produced by DinarStandard, indicates that Muslims spent US$2.29 trillion in 2022 on food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, modest fashion, travel, and media. Islamic finance assets are estimated to have reached US$3.96 trillion in 2021/22  and will grow to US$5.94 trillion by 2025/26.

The report’s national benchmarking Global Islamic Economy Indicator (GIEI) of 81 countries ranked the UK #15 overall. The UK ranked highest in Islamic-themed media and recreation, coming 5th globally. The UK also ranked 9th in both modest fashion and the sector of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

Meanwhile, Malaysia retained the top spot for the 10th consecutive year. Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and the UAE followed Malaysia. Indonesia moved up in ranking to #3 overall. Bahrain has returned to the top 5 for the first time since 2019/20, and South Africa has entered the top 15 countries for the first time. Iran, Qatar, Pakistan, and South Africa achieved the most significant gains within the top 15.

Investments in Islamic economy-relevant companies increased significantly, reaching $25.9 billion in 2022/23, representing a 128% year-on-year growth. The UK ranks #11 with a growth of 25% 2022/23 compared to prior year. Over 55 per cent of investments globally were within the Islamic finance category, while Media attracted 19.2 per cent, Travel 13.1 per cent and Halal Food 8.5 per cent. Such figures reflect corporate-led mergers and acquisitions, venture capital investments in tech start-ups, and private equity investments.

Import of halal-related products by the OIC member countries was US$359 billion in 2022 and is set to grow at 7.6% CAGR to reach US$492 billion by 2027. The UK exported $4.4 billion worth of halal products to OIC in 2022, ranking 23rd globally.

Key developments from the UK’s halal economy span from food to finance. Hancocks, a confectionary store based in Bradford, has pioneered a 50-foot-long aisle dedicated entirely to vegan and halal confectionary options. Gatehouse Bank has begun offering Shariah-compliant green home finance products. Other key updates include the government’s mandatory regulation and labelling of meat slaughtered without pre-stunning.

Referring to the 10th anniversary of the SGIE report, Rafi-uddin Shikoh, CEO and Managing Director of DinarStandard, said:

“The SGIE report, with the grace of God Almighty, has evolved into a global reference point to evaluate the Islamic Economy’s annual developments globally across the seven sectors covered while highlighting potential areas of development. Over the past decade, the Report has reached over 101,000 readers across 85 countries, with over 14,150 report downloads and over 1,570 media mentions. Muslim spending has increased from US$1.62 trillion in 2012 to US$2.29 trillion a decade later.”

The SGIE report also highlights Islamic economies’ social impact developments in addressing the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including initiatives addressing the exacerbated poverty and food security crisis, which the Islamic Economy is showing promising signs of impact. The SGIE report 2023/24 has been produced in partnership with SalaamGateway.com, the largest Islamic economy news and media platform. The global strategic partner of the report this year is US-based halal certifier IFANCA.

The entire State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2023/2024 is available for download at https://salaamgateway.com/specialcoverage/SGIE23