Dubai's DIB helps arrange $1 billion sovereign financing for Pakistan
Arranged in collaboration with a consortium of financial institutions, the five-year facility is an innovative transaction, partially guaranteed by a Policy-Based Guarantee (PBG) from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It's the first PBG transaction of its kind undertaken by ADB for Pakistan.
With Islamic tranche, structured as an AAOIFI-compliant Commodity Murabaha, making up for nearly 89 per cent of the total facility, it showed the growing demand for Shariah-based financing and supports Pakistan's objective of expanding Islamic finance.
DIB leads major Pakistan funding deal
DIB acted as the sole Islamic global coordinator and was the Joint Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner alongside Standard Chartered. Other leading Islamic banks that participated from the region included Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Ajman Bank and Sharjah Islamic Bank.
Muhammad Aurangzeb, Minister of Finance, Government of Pakistan, commented: 'This landmark financing arrangement not only underscores the strong confidence of regional and international financial institutions in Pakistan's economic reform trajectory, but also marks an important step in expanding our access to innovative and Shariah-compliant funding solutions.
'We deeply value the role of partners like DIB and ADB in supporting our efforts to ensure macroeconomic stability and sustainable growth.'
Dr Adnan Chilwan, Group Chief Executive Officer, DIB, added: 'This transaction marks a key milestone in demonstrating how Sharia-compliant financing can be scaled effectively to meet sovereign objectives while upholding partnership and prudence.
'DIB is delighted to have re-introduced Pakistan's credit to the Islamic term financing market after a hiatus of over two years through an innovative structure. We are confident this will pave the way for the Government to access broader pools of Sharia-compliant liquidity in the near future.'
Developed in close coordination with the Government of Pakistan, the Asian Development Bank, and leading financial institutions, the structure reflects strong alignment between market capabilities and national priorities. It offers a compelling example of how values-driven finance can support tangible, real-economy outcomes.
The inclusion of an ADB PBG played a key role in facilitating Pakistan's return to the international commercial market.
For Pakistan, the transaction marks a strategic re-engagement with Middle East capital markets after more than two years, demonstrating growing investor trust and a renewed appetite for collaboration through ethical and cost-effective financing solutions.
Established in 1975, DIB is the largest Islamic bank in the UAE by assets. It is also the world's first full-service Islamic bank and amongst the largest Islamic banks in the world with group assets now exceeding US$95 billion and market capitalisation of more than US$14 billion. The bank has over 500 branches across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
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