KARACHI, March 20: Modaraba Association of Pakistan is looking for the ways to set up a billion dollar Islamic Fund to overcome the liquidity problems.

The executive committee of the association that met in Lahore on Tuesday discussed the possibilities of setting up such a fund, says a press release. MAP chairman Bsheer A. Chowdhry was in the chair.

Vice-chairman of the association Adil A. Ghaffar told the meeting that half a billion dollars could be arranged from Dubai, Bahrain and Kuwait under Islamic mode of financing to set up the proposed fund. He said MAP should arrange road shows and seminars in these countries for this purpose.

A member of the committee Ayaz Dawood said that multilateral lending agencies could also help modarabas broaden their range of products. He recalled that in mid-1990s International Finance Corporation had provided $30 million to three modarabas under a specially devised mode of Islamic financing called income notes. “Other multilateral agencies may also examine” the possibility of funding modarabas in Islamic mode of financing.

The committee assigned one of its members Mahmood Ahmed with the task of arranging meetings with the officials of IFC and ADB in this regard.

The meeting also discussed the role of the regulating body in monitoring of modarabas and the members said that timely action by Registrar of Modarabas should produce favourable results in improving the image of modarabas.

The committee decided to hold a seminar on “Corporate governance” in association with the SECP.