Halal Industry Islamic Finance Islamic Lifestyle

Bumper transactions of $1.82 bn during ISEF 2021

BY Staff Writer

04 Nov 2021

News

Salaam Gateway

The 8th Indonesia Sharia Economic Festival (ISEF), which ended October 30, recorded more transactions in 2021 than last year’s event, bolstered by digital transactions.

The hybrid festival, which is promoting the whole of Indonesia’s Islamic economy, recorded transactions worth Rupiah 25.8 trillion ($1.82 billion) through Islamic financial institutions’ financing transactions, exhibitions and business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) transactions.

Transactions were up significantly compared to 2020’s results of Rupiah 5.03 trillion ($354.22 million). Sugeng, the Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia (the central bank) said at the ISEF Closing Ceremony that digital transactions had helped spur such high overall transactions at the festival.

Last year’s festival was however more muted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year saw the return after a two-year hiatus of the four-day Indonesia Sustainable Muslim Fashion Show held by Bank Indonesia and the Indonesia Halal Life Centre. Nearly 200 Indonesian fashion designers took part, in addition to some 400 resellers.

On top of modest fashion, ISEF connected hundreds of sellers with thousands of types of halal products, with visitors able to directly shop for goods on isef.co.id. The public will be able to visit the virtual exhibition through the ISEF Integrated Virtual Platform 2021 until 31 December.

ISEF featured 970 business exhibitors, 420 designers, 4,451 competition participants, and 119 countries accessing the ISEF platform. The festival has attracted 293,401 online visitors since April 2021, while up to 240 halal certificates were issued through the PPH Assistance Certification programme, Halal Self-Declare Certification, and Designer Competency Certification. The festival also helped to raise Rupiah 669 billion ($47.11 million) through zakat, infaq, sadaqah and waqf (ZISWAF) donations.

Sugeng said that the festival, in line with the theme "Magnifying Halal Industry through Food and Fashion Markets for Economic Recovery," helped promote and develop Indonesia’ modest fashion and halal food sectors, as well as bolstering halal certification programmes.

The festival, which included 194 activities, including webinars, workshops, and talks on the Islamic economy, provided insight into how Indonesia can bolster its halal economy through trade, investment and the identification of global opportunities.

Indonesia could potentially generate a further $3.6 billion a year in halal exports, to reach $12.2 billion, if the sector can capitalise on its strong foundations, with exports currently worth $8.6 billion a year, according to the Indonesia Halal Market Report 2021/2022, a joint report by the Indonesia Halal Lifestyle Centre, Bank Indonesia and DinarStandard.

While the 25-30 October festival was the showcase event, the road to ISEF 2021 in Jakarta began in April, with events being held in Eastern Indonesia, Sumatra, and Java.