SBP Governor calls for Sukuk push

At the National Islamic Economic Forum 2025 in Karachi, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad outlined government-SBP efforts to deepen Pakistan’s Sukuk market and urged stakeholders to tackle issuance bottlenecks.

“We are working towards simplifying Sukuk structure and easing the process of issuing new Sukuks,” he said on Tuesday, adding that the central bank and the government are jointly working towards transferring public debt towards Sukuk, a Shariah-compliant bond.

“I think that we should address the underlying issues together, so that we can issue more Sukuks and provide products to investors that are compliant with the Shariah,” he said.

Highlighting the country’s macroeconomic indicators, the central bank chief shared that the SBP’s foreign exchange reserves have increased from $3 billion in 2022 to over $11 billion, “which has been achieved without taking loans.”

Macroeconomic outlook: SBP governor apprises foreign investors

During the same period, external debt declined by $1–1.5 billion, bringing total debt below $100 billion. “Its positive impact on the economy will become evident in the coming days,” he said.

Ahmad said that workers remittances, which last year stood at $30.3 billion, are expected to hit nearly $38 billion this fiscal year.

“This increase of approximately $8 billion is driven by the hard work of our overseas workers and the freelancing community.”

Talking about Pakistan’s Islamic banking industry, the central bank chief shared that by March 2025, the total assets of Islamic banking stood at Rs11.5 trillion, which accounts for 21.1% of the total banking assets.

He added that the total deposits of Islamic banking in Pakistan stand at Rs8.8 trillion.

“Although much work needs to be done, we have made significant progress. The share of Islamic banking is gradually increasing,” said Ahmad.

He urged the heads of Islamic banks to provide financial services in priority sectors, including SMEs, agriculture, housing and microenterprise.

Moreover, Islamic Banking Institutions (IBIs) need to take several measures to enhance their outreach, he said.

Digitisation of the economy

The SBP Governor shared that a number of large-scale projects are operating to digitise the economy, including RAAST, a micro payment gateway.

“Through Raast, one can transfer funds from one part of the country to another in six seconds. This instant transfer of funds, which has accelerated our digitisation process,” he said.

Ahmad shared that the number of digital transactions has increased from 5.5 billion to 7.5 billion in 2024, a growth of 38%.

“87% of retail transactions are taking place in digital form,” he said.