The Real Estate Savings and Investment Bank launches the ‘‘Savings for Housing’’ Islamic Sharia savings account

Libya’s Real Estate Savings and Investment Bank announced yesterday that it has launched the ‘‘Savings for Housing’’ account.

The bank said the account is a national vision compliant with the provisions of Islamic Sharia and entails it initiating a revamp of its policies and procedures governing housing financing mechanisms.

This new initiative, the bank explained, will enable citizens to open a monthly savings account in their name or in the name of one of their sons or daughters, dedicated exclusively to obtaining a ready-made home or a soft loan to build a home after a specified period.

The “Savings for Housing” programme is not just a financial account; it is a safe path toward family stability and confident future planning. It is a new hope for a promising future that instils a culture of savings and turns the dream of home ownership into a tangible reality, the bank said.

The bank is yet to release precise details of the initiative such as length of time for the account to mature or its estimate of what it anticipates an average apartment / house will cost.

Libya has had a housing crisis for decades
It will be recalled that there is an acute housing crisis in Libya which has endured since the Qaddafi regime which had suppressed the building of housing by the private sector through its centralised socialist policies.

The inability of youth to afford an independent home due to the skyrocketing prices of housing at several multiples of the average salary means that many are postponing their marriage or forced to share abodes with their parents.

At the same time tens if not hundreds of thousands of partly constructed homes remain stalled as foreign contractors fled Libya because of the 2011 revolution that overthrew the Qaddafi regime.

Despite numerous efforts by successive post-2011 governments to entice foreign contractors to return to complete their projects, these incomplete projects still remain idle today.

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https://www.libyaherald.com/2018/10/11/cbl-not-delaying-economic-reforms-pcs-maetig/

https://www.libyaherald.com/2018/03/06/libyas-stalled-us-110-bn-22000-contract-projects-to-be-reviewed-again

https://www.libyaherald.com/2017/01/11/gna-forms-committee-to-review-prioritize-stalled-projects-within-10-days-for-11-sectors