Pakistan: Why Delay In Auction Of GoP Ijara Sukuk? – OpEd
The Government of Pakistan (GoP) was scheduled to issue Rs315 billion (equivalent to more than US$3 billion) Ijara Sukuk (GIS-16) by the end November this year. The auction was to be held soon after the maturity of over Rs212 billion Ijara Sukuk on November 21.
This has led to two serious issues: 1) the Government of Pakistan is still running short of money and 2) Islamic financial institutions are sitting on tons of non-yielding deposits.
It is also feared that banks may be failing in meeting the statutory liquidity requirement (SLR).
It is believed that the underlined asset for the proposed GIS-16 issue was the Jinnah International Terminal, Karachi.
One completely fails to understand the promptness of Pakistan’s Finance Minister in imposing additional taxes of Rs40 billion, while completely ignoring GIS-16. If one can recall, the Minister has been saying repeatedly that the PML-N government was serious in promoting Islamic finance in the country.
The delay in the auction is worth probing. The Minister is requested to kindly find out what the debt management department is doing?
