DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Dubai-based Islamic mortgage lender Tamweel said it plans to expand into India, Morocco and Turkey, and expects to turn a profit from Egyptian and Saudi operations next year.

“In Egypt and Saudi Arabia, it is all approved and we are just setting up,” Chief Executive Officer Adel al-Shirawi told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. “We will start to earn there in 2009.”

Shirwai said Tamweel was benefiting from lower interest rates because that was widening the gap between the price at which it borrows and lends home owners.