KARACHI: The government raised Rs74.89 billion through auction of Ijara Sukuk (Islamic bonds) for five years on Thursday, reported the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

It received bids worth Rs93.31bn for five-year Government Ijara Sukuk (GIS) for Variable Rental Rate. Of this, Rs69.03bn was accepted as competitive GIS and Rs97bn as non-competitive, taking the total to Rs69.128bn.

The government also raised five-years GIS (competitive) Rs5.65bn in Fixed Rental Rate while accepting Rs112.5 million in non-competitive bid, making up Rs5.762bn. With the increase of Islamic banking shares in the overall banking industry, size of GIS has been increased by the SBP.

Like conventional ones, Islamic banks are also looking to park maximum liquidity in the government papers to earn risk-free profits.

SBP reserves rise to $12.8bn

The reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased by $12.6 million to $12.82 billion for the week ended on Sept 11, announced the central bank on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the reserves held by the commercial banks decreased by $14.6m to $7.13bn bringing the reserves held by the country during the week ended on Sept 11 to $19.959bn.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020