(Sukuk.net - Arab News) The individuals living in the Arab world, including the six GCC countries, will be less affected by the current international financial crisis whose brunt will be on banks having investment portfolios in the world markets, particularly in the US, president of the Federation of Arab Banks Adnan Ahmed Youssif told Arab News in an interview yesterday.

He expected the negative impact of the crisis on individuals only for the short-term. Youssif speculated that the crisis might continue for more than 18 months and said the impact of the crisis on Arab banks will vary from one bank to another.

He said Islamic banks will be the least affected by the repercussions of the international financial crisis because of the nature of their transactions in the local markets and because they were not involved in the international banking system. Youssif said his organization had earlier warned banks in the region that such a crisis was imminent due to some signals derived from the performance of the American economy.

"This has reduced the influence of the crisis on the Arab banks," he said. He expected the return of some Arab investments from outside in the coming period within the precautionary measures being taken by banks and investors to avoid the impact of the crisis.

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