(Sukuk.net - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The number of Kuwaiti Islamic investment companies exceeded the number of traditional ones for the first time ever in May, a KUNA analysis showed.

The number of Islamic investment companies came to 44 compared to 43 traditional investment companies, the figures showed.

The analysis of data from the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) showed that Islamic investment companies proved their ability to compete within a short space of time. The number of Shariah-compliant companies leaped 300 percent from 11 only in May 2003, whereas the number of traditional companies increased 59.2 percent only, from 27 to 43.

However, traditional companies still have a bigger total capital, KD 10.2 billion compared to KD 7.3 billion for Islamic investment companies.

Still, the growth of Islamic companies' capital is considerable as their capitals jumped from less than a billion dinars in 2003 to KD. 7.3 billion, increasing 750 percent, while the growth of traditional companies' capital equaled 169 percent only.

During the first five months of 2008, five Islamic companies got CBK's approval to start their activities in Kuwait, raising the total capital of Islamic investment companies by about KD 1 billion, while the total capital of traditional companies also increased KD 1 billion after three traditional investment companies got CBK license.

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