Finance Minister Approves Plan to Raise $2 Billion Through Overseas Pakistanis

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar gave his approved plan for charitable organizations to help raise around $2 billion from overseas Pakistanis.

While speaking at the National Islamic Economic Forum’s (NIEF) ‘Defining a roadmap for Islamization of Pakistan’s economy’ event via video link, Dar advised the charity organizations to meet with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to finalize the fund-raising, which is planned to be “interest-free” for five years.

This comes after the Saylani Welfare Trust and other organizations offered to help raise $2 billion in order to help deal with the current economic crisis, with a particular focus on resolving the issue of the non-opening of letters of credit (LCs).

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman Saylani Welfare Muhammad Bashir Farooqi said his organization along with big names like Akhuwat Foundation and The Citizens Foundation, were planning to ask ex-pats to lend dollars to the country without interest for five years. “This will help Pakistan escape the current economic crisis. This will also help resolve the LC issue and clear up the containers stuck at the port,” he said, adding that he expects to fetch at least $2 billion from this effort. Farooqi also asked for Dar’s help in this regard; he agreed.

Dar urged the Saylani Welfare executive to dispatch a team for a meeting with the central bank. “We need to stop Riba as soon as possible. From 2013 to 2017, I took some measures and implemented them in SECP, SBP, stakeholders, industrialists, and banks. We requested Mufti Taqi Usmani to lead the change,” he added.

While talks for raising funds through external sources have been gaining traction this month, it is also highly crucial for Pakistan to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release a $1.1 billion overdue tranche, leaving $1.4 billion in a stalled bailout program set to expire in June 2023.

Although an emergency IMF delegation has arrived in Pakistan, there are no guarantees amid a growing list of issues following the November suspension of disbursements from the current package, which was increased to $7 billion after the floods.


  • Why don’t Ishaq dare to impose tax on agriculture land owners especially politicians? The country is at the verge of collapse and he still prevaricate to tax the elite.


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