International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Global Trade Finance Programme is marking another record year in Pakistan helping the country's businesses access global import and export markets, expand their operations and create new jobs. As of March 31, 2011, IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, had provided 640 trade finance guarantees on behalf of 11 partner issuing banks in Pakistan through its Global Trade Finance Programme, to help their client businesses trade internationally.
The $435 million value of IFC's finance guarantees at the end of fiscal year 2011's third quarter already exceeds the 887 guarantees amounting to $377 million, issued by IFC in 2010. "These numbers demonstrate not only IFC's commitment to working in challenging markets like Pakistan, but also that within challenging markets there are always strong, well-run businesses, small and large, that deserve support," says K. Aftab Ahmed, IFC Director for Global Financial Markets in the Middle East and North Africa.
Zakir Mahmoud, CEO of Pakistan's Habib Bank Limited - a major user of IFC's GTFP in the country, said: "Our GTFP partnership with IFC is a strategic relationship that not only supports HBL's day-to-day trade business, but it also enhances our capacity to deliver innovative and structured solutions for our corporate relationships."
IFC uses its Global Trade Finance Programmes to help foreign firms and financial institutions feel confident doing business with Pakistani companies by providing partial or full guarantees against underlying trade instruments and covers the payment risk of participating issuing banks. This allows issuing banks to expand their trade finance transactions within an extensive network of countries and banks to enhance their trade finance coverage. In December 2010, for example, IFC extended support against an MCB Bank letter of Credit that helped Ibrahim Fibers, a major player in Pakistan's vital textiles sector, import state-of-the-art German manufacturing technology that will allow its Faisalabad plant to double its polyester staple fiber and polyester chip output from 650 tons per day to 1250 tons.-PR
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.