Dar invites Middle Eastern banks to invest in Pakistan's treasury bills

Dar says it is the first time the government listed treasury bills for trading on the stock exchange.

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday invited Middle Eastern banks to invest in the treasury bills of Pakistan.

Representatives of Dubai Islamic Bank, Mashreq Bank, Emirates Islamic Bank, Habib Bank, Habib AGZ Bank, ENBD AM Bank and United Limited Bank attended the meeting.

Dar said it was the first time the government had listed treasury bills for trading on the stock exchange. Citing that in the 90s credit facilities were extended by Middle Eastern banks to Pakistan, he mentioned that one such facility had been extended recently and encouraged the bankers to extend similar financing facilities as the Pakistani market has good appetite for such credit.

He informed the bankers that the present government was following an economic reform agenda and nearly all the economic indicators were on track. He added that large scale manufacturing had shown a growth of 6.8 per cent, leading overall economic growth, while growth in credit to the private sector had increased a phenomenal 8.7 per cent for the July 2013, to March 2014, period, compared to minus 0.8 per cent in the preceding financial year.

Exports grew 6.2 per cent year-on-year for the period July 2013 to February 2014 and the pace of growth was estimated to pick up when the advantage of Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus status from the European Union (EU) starts accruing, he added.

He also briefed the bankers about remittances which remittances increased 11.2 per cent over last year helping Pakistan’s balance of payments (BOP), adding that there would be further improvement in the BOP position and foreign exchange reserves because of expected foreign inflows.

The Minister highlighted how expenditure management had helped in reducing fiscal deficit during July 2013 to February 2014 to 3.1 per cent, against 4.1 per cent during the same period last year, while the Federal Bureau of Revenue’s (FBR) collection during July 2013 to February 2014 showed a growth of Rs1348 billion, compared to Rs1145 billion for the same period last year, an increase of 17.7 per cent.