Pak EXIM ties up with ICIEC, sets up Rs3 billion pool to widen risk cover for small exporters

Pakistani exporters gained access to wider financial backing after the Export-Import Bank of Pakistan, known as Pak EXIM, sealed a reinsurance deal with the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit. Separately, a risk pool worth about Rs3 billion was created by the Export Development Fund (EDF) and Pak EXIM to extend risk cover to smaller firms. Profit by Pakistan Today reported both arrangements.

The reinsurance arrangement was signed by ICIEC chief executive Dr Khalid Khalafalla and Pak EXIM president Shahbaz Hussain Syed. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb welcomed the deal, saying it would bring worldwide expertise in credit and political risk. The Rs3 billion pool, signed by EDF chairman Omar Saeed and Syed, is intended to strengthen risk sharing within the country and extend cover against non-payment by buyers to more small and medium enterprises. Syed said the ICIEC deal would widen Pak EXIM's room to underwrite, while the pool would let a larger number of small companies insure themselves.

Aurangzeb said the economy has moved from stabilisation toward growth, with output up 3.7% in FY26 and the fiscal deficit at 2.6% of GDP, the lowest level in 22 years. He added that exporters could still obtain credit at 4.5% despite the policy rate change, and called for the EDF, Pak EXIM, commercial banks, the State Bank of Pakistan and the government to act as one connected system.