The spike in the yield suggests that investors are thinking the country may default on the $1 billion Sukuk…reports Asian Lite News
Pakistan’s risk of default, measured through the five-year currency default swap (CDS) index, spiked 4.2 percentage points to a new high at 64.2 per cent, suggesting that the country lacked resources to meet the growing import payments and foreign debt repayments on time.
Pakistan is scheduled to repay $1 billion against a five-year ‘Sukuk ‘(Shariah-compliant bond) maturing on December 5, The Express Tribune reported.
The yield (rate of return) on the Sukuk surged by 964 basis points in a day to 69.96 per cent, according to Topline Research.
The spike in the yield suggests that investors are thinking the country may default on the $1 billion Sukuk, The Express Tribune reported.
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad, however, clarified that the country had foreign exchange reserves of “over $9 billion, which are more than enough” to pay for imports and repay foreign debt.
The five-year CDS exhibited a high risk of default after Pakistan announced that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had postponed his visit to Islamabad and a new date would be announced soon.
The Crown Prince had been expected to announce investments of over $10 billion during his trip.
The expected inflows would have strengthened Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, The Express Tribune reported.
In its semi-annual review announcement on November 10, the MSCI removed MCB Bank from its main Frontier Market (FM) index and added it to the Frontier Market small-cap index, the research house said.
Pakistan has now only two constituents left in the MSCI FM index, which include Lucky Cement and Oil and Gas Development Company.
MSCI did not notify Pakistan’s weight in the index, but it is now estimated at 0.7 per cent.
The changes to the FM index will come into effect on November 30.
As per the MSCI’s market classification framework, the size and liquidity requirements for the constituents of the FM index include full-cap market size of $1 billion, free float market capitalisation of $91 million and 2.5 per cent of annualised traded value ratio.