Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday that the government was working to pivot the country’s banking system to an “interest-free” direction, adding that the coalition government would move ahead to establish an Islamic banking system.

“I’m announcing on behalf of the federal government that the SBP and NBP will withdraw their appeals from the SC and our government will fully try to as quickly as possible implement an Islamic system in Pakistan,” the finance minister said in a press conference in Islamabad.

Earlier in April, the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) had announced its verdict regarding the interest-free banking system and directed the federal and provincial governments to amend relevant laws. The court directed the government to implement the amended laws by December 2027.

Following the FSC verdict, the commercial banks and the central bank challenged the court’s verdict in the Sup­reme Court (SC).

Dar, during his today’s press conference, said that there was lots of detailed discussion on the matter and a future roadmap was discussed with the SBP governor as well.

The finance minister clarified that there were a lot of challenges in implementing this system since Pakistan’s entire banking system in vogue for the past 75 years could not immediately move to a different system.

“The government has decided in light of teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah to work to implement the system in the defined timeline,” Dar added.