Pakistan: Sukuk Issue Touches Record Level In 2021
The year 2021 saw the highest issuance of Government of Pakistan Ijarah Sukuk in the country’s history. Sukuk worth PKR 736 billion were issued during the calendar 2021. This was a landmark achievement of Ministry of Finance and Government of Pakistan that shows commitment of the incumbent government towards promotion of Islamic Banking in the country.
The year 2020 was also a big year for Sukuk; with PKR 561 billion of Gop Ijarah Sukuk were issued. The cumulative value of GoP Ijarah Sukuk issuance in the period 2020-2021 stands at around PKR 1.29 trillion as compared to PKR 936 billion issued during the period 2008 to 2017. There was no Sukuk issuance during 2018 and 2019. The current series of Sukuk has been issued on various assets including Jinnah International Airport, M1 Motorway, M4 Motorway, E-35 Motorway, M3 Motorway and M5 Motorway.
The issuance of Sukuk has resulted in significant saving to Government of Pakistan with both the variable rate and fixed rate GoP Ijarah Sukuks issued at a discount to the existing T-Bills and PIB rate. This is reflective of the fact that there is a high appetite of Sukuk in local Islamic banking industry which is on path to achieve SBP’s 5-Year strategic goal of one-third market share of overall banking industry by 2025.
With this record breaking Sukuk issuance, Pakistan is set to make a mark in the global Sukuk economy of the world which is currently dominated by Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. The Sukuk issuance was led by Ministry of Finance Debt office which was supported with technical expertise by Meezan Bank Limited, Bank Alfalah Limited and Dubai Islamic Bank (Pakistan) Limited in their capacity as Joint Financial Advisor to Ministry of Finance.”
