Finally, the potential for the markets to function efficiently would be enhanced if the financial market is developed in an environment that enjoys financial stability, monetary stability and sustained economy growth. The MIFC initiatives To enhance the inter-linkages in the global Islamic financial markets, Malaysia is continuing its efforts to not only develop further the Islamic financial infrastructure but to also implement measures and initiatives that will strengthen our position as an international Islamic financial hub. The Malaysian Government is therefore launching an initiative known as the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre or MIFC. The MIFC initiative is specifically undertaken by the collective efforts of the country's financial and market regulators, including Bank Negara Malaysia, Securities Commission, LOFSA and Bursa Malaysia, together with the participation of the industry representing the banking, takaful and capital market in Malaysia. As part of the initiatives, Islamic financial products and services that are transacted in international currencies may now be conducted from anywhere in Malaysia. Malaysia has the physical infrastructure, international connectivity, the communication network, cultural offerings as well as the talents which is inherently advantageous to the MIFC. BIS Review 74/2006  3  In this first phase, the MIFC initiative will introduce measures and incentives to promote the centre in the offering of Islamic financial products and services by the diversified range of financial institutions in international currencies to the international and domestic financial community.
Access to the Internet as a national and global market place lowers the barriers to market participation. Opportunities are provided not only for economies of scale both nationally and internationally but also for the diversification, even individualisation, of goods and services. Market forecasts by international IT consultants predict that retail Internet commerce will grow from twenty to thirty billion dollars this year to several hundred billion dollars. And even this is dwarfed by prospects for business-to-business commerce, which involves asking for tenders on the Internet and matching the potential suppliers for increased efficiency. In an optimistic forecast from the American investment bank Goldman Sachs, this form of Internet commerce is predicted to expand to more than a thousand billion dollars by 2003 and to contribute a quarter of a percentage point to annual GDP growth in the coming decade. The fact that clear signs of improved productivity did not appear until almost a decade after Solow’s observation can be attributed to computers and IT being what is commonly referred to as general purpose technology, in the sense that they interact with and modify many other processes and techniques. The economic impact of such innovations is liable to take a long time. Parallels have been drawn with another innovation with far-reaching consequences, namely electricity. Although electricity began to be used in the late nineteenth century, its impact on productivity did not show up in earnest until the 1920s.