The government is planning to issue a Sukuk of Rs. 600-700 billion against Jinnah International Airport, Karachi in the next few weeks, sources in the banking industry have claimed.
The previous Sukuk of Rs. 300 billion, which were raised against Karachi airport in three separate issues, matured a few weeks ago. Now, the government has an opportunity to raise money through domestic Ijara Sukuk to support its budgetary requirement while leveraging the potential of the Islamic banking industry.
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Sources in the banking industry further said that the Ministry of Finance will seek approval from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in this regard and then forward it to the cabinet for final approval, which will likely take place in the next month.
The ministry already appointed three leading banks as its Sharia advisors for the arrangement, including Meezan Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, and Bank Alfalah. Other banks will also make their investments among Islamic banks and Islamic banking windows of conventional banks.
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The government had issued its last GIS more than two years ago. The Sukuk will be issued as Government Ijara Sukuk (GIS) in addition to another planned Energy Sukuk of Rs. 200 billion.
The Sukuk will be benefited to Islamic banks with excessive unutilized liquidity that will also reflect positively on their balance sheets.
