Muslim Aid joined today in the call by more than 50 NGOs and charity organisations in the UK for imposing a 0.5% tax on the financial transactions of banks to raise money for helping the poor. The CEO of Muslim Aid Syed Sharfuddin said: “As an NGO that has focused on humanitarian relief and eradication of poverty in some of the poorest countries in the world, Muslim Aid joins our partner organisations in calling on the big banks to acknowledge that they have a corporate responsibility toward the society and should not shy away from a small tax to help raise money for pro-poor services and projects”.

Muslim Aid’s programmes, among others, include micro credit schemes in South Asia for people below the poverty line. Despite lack of equity and proper security small and poor households have proved that if they are empowered to exploit economic opportunity they can break the cycle of poverty and unemployment. “Muslim Aid knows the territory and works closely with people at the grass roots levels. Where banks have failed in realizing big loans, the NGOs have been quite successful in turning small credits into big gains” said Sharfuddin.