In contrast to these views, the central banks of most of these countries treat Is-

1. In contrast to these views, the central banks of most of these countries treat Is- lamic banks in the same way as traditional interest based banks. Their main argu- ment is that so far Islamic banks finance their activities using the deposits of the general public, they create credit and at least in this respect there is no substantial difference between the operations of traditional banks and Islamic banks. Hence, their activities are to be regulated in the same way as the activities of traditional in- terest based banks. As Siddiqi has pointed out, the truth probably lies some where in the middle of these two extreme positions [Siddiqi,1989.] An important point to keep in mind is that credit (or additional money supply) is not created by any bank ( traditional or Islamic) in isolation. It is the commercial banking system as a whole which creates credit. In a traditional system, the advance made by one commercial bank does not leave the banking system. It comes back to other commercial banks in the form of new deposits and other receipts. The presence of Islamic banks does not alter this fact in any way. The advances made by Islamic banks, either in the form of Murabahah, or letters of credit or any other form, are also not likely to leave the banking system. They will come back to either the same Islamic bank, or to another Islamic bank, if there are more than one, or they may even go to other non - Islamic commercial banks. However, there is some merit in the argument that the financing operations of Islamic banks are different from the financing operations of interest based banks. The monetary authorities should consider the fact that Islamic banks cannot con- vert their financial assets into liquid assets with the same ease as interest based banks which keep a large portion their total assets in interest bearing financial pap- ers. Hence, in order to remain liquid, Islamic banks have to keep a large portion of their assets in the form of cash on hand. In other words, the cash - asset ratio of Is- lamic banks is usually higher than that of traditional interest based commercial banks. This means that the capability of Islamic banks to create credit is lower be- cause of their inability to invest in short term financial assets and the absence of an Islamic financial papers market. Furthermore, Islamic banks provide finance through Musharakah and Mudarabah. Unlike interest based banks, they also participate in real investment. Hence, there is a case for evolving and adopting new methods of credit control for Islamic banks in a mixed environment. In light of these considerations, this chapter presents Jordan and Egypt as case studies of the regulation and control of Islamic banks by central banks in mixed environment. 40