Islamic Development Bank exchanges partnership framework with Pakistan for up to 2025

Islamic Development Bank Regional Hub Turkiye Director Dr Walid Abdelwahab (left) and Ministry of Economic Affairs Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz sign an agreement on March 22, 2024 in Islamabad, Pakistan. (PID)
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Updated 23 March 2024
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Islamic Development Bank exchanges partnership framework with Pakistan for up to 2025

  • Delegation from Jeddah-based multilateral lender will be in Pakistan from March 22-24
  • Pakistan is one of founding members of the bank, third largest beneficiary of its financing

ISLAMABAD: A delegation from the Islamic Development Bank is currently on a three-day visit to Pakistan, state-run APP reported on Saturday, and has exchanged with Pakistani officials an engagement framework outlining strategic directions and priorities of the partnership with the South Asian nation until 2025.

The team from the Jeddah-based multilateral lender will be in Pakistan from March 22-24. Pakistan is one of the founding members of the bank and the third largest beneficiary of its financing.

“The two sides exchanged the IsDB’s Country Engagement Framework (CEF) Document (2023-25), outlining the medium-term strategic directions and priorities of the lender’s partnership with Pakistan up to 2025,” APP reported. 

“The IsDB Group Country Engagement Framework is focused on boosting recovery, tackling poverty and building resilience, and green economic growth which is in line with GOP’s vision and development priorities.”

On the first day of its visit on Friday, the delegation called on Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema to discuss strengthening partnerships and promoting development initiatives,.

“He acknowledged the efforts of the President IsDB in galvanizing international support for the floods 2022 affectees, by pledging $ 4.2 billion,” a press release said. “Both sides agreed that relations can be further strengthened through mutual collaboration and partnership.”

Cheema also witnessed the signing with the IsDB of a financing agreement worth $200 million for the Sindh Flood Emergency Housing Reconstruction Project. 

The project aims to construct 700,000 houses, benefiting an estimated 4.2 million people in rural areas of the southern province, and will support the creation of 75,000 water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities for over 1.3 million individuals.


Pakistan issues over $7 billion sukuk in 2025, nears 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target

Updated 29 December 2025
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Pakistan issues over $7 billion sukuk in 2025, nears 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target

  • Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad says this was the highest-ever Sukuk issuance in a single calendar year since 2008
  • Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court ordered in 2022 the entire banking system to transition to Islamic principles by 2027

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad on Monday said the country achieved a landmark breakthrough in Islamic finance by issuing over Rs2 trillion ($7 billion) sukuk this year, bringing it closer to its 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target by Fiscal Year 2027-28.

A sukuk is an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond, but it complies with Shariah law, which forbids interest. Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court (FSC) had directed the government in April 2022 to eliminate interest and align the country’s entire banking system with Islamic principles by 2027.

Following the ruling, the government and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have undertaken a series of measures, including legal reforms and the issuance of sukuk to replace interest-based treasury bills and investment bonds.

“In 2025, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) through its Debt Management Office, together with its Joint Financial Advisers (JFAs), successfully issued over PKR 2 trillion in Sukuk,” Schehzad said on X, describing it as “the highest-ever Sukuk issuance in a single calendar year since 2008 by Pakistan.”

Pakistan made a total of 61 issuances across one-, three-, five- and 10-year tenors, according to the finance adviser. The country also successfully launched its first Green Sukuk, a Shariah-compliant bond designed to fund environment-friendly projects.

He said the Green Sukuk was 5.4 times oversubscribed, indicating investor demand was more than five times higher than the amount the government planned to raise, which showed strong market confidence.

“The rising share of Islamic instruments in the government’s domestic securities portfolio (domestic debt) underscores strong momentum, growing from 12.6 percent in June 2025 to around 14.5 percent by December 2025, clearly positioning the MoF to achieve its 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target by FY28,” Schehzad said.

“This milestone also reflects the structural deepening of Pakistan’s Islamic capital market, sustained investor confidence, and the strengthening of sovereign debt management.”

He said Pakistan was strengthening its government securities market by making it more resilient, diversified, and future-ready, supported by a stabilizing macroeconomic environment, a disciplined debt strategy, and a clear roadmap for Islamic finance.