SBP Rejects All Bids Received for GOP’s Sukuk Ijarah

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has rejected all bids for the five-year Government of Pakistan (GoP) Ijarah Sukuk at an auction conducted on the 15th of April 2020.

According to the SBP, the auction received bids worth PKR 176.897 billion against an auction target of PKR 75 billion at a range of margin between -225 to +25 basis points (bps) over the benchmark rate.

It is also worth noting that the Monetary Policy Committee of SBP had reduced the policy rate by 200 bps on the 16th of April 2020. According to local news reports, with the benchmark being the 6-month Weighted Average Yield, it would make little sense to issue  Sukuk at an elevated rate as the settlement date is before...