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Salary advance platform Abhi issues MENAP region fintechs’ first Sukuk bond

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In a first for a fintech in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAP) region, Pakistani startup Abhi has raised funds from its first-ever Sukuk bond.

The salary advance platform raised Rs2 billion or $6.8 million, which its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Founder Omair Ansari termed an industry first.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Ansari said demand exceeded expectations with subscriptions reaching twice the anticipated amount.

The Karachi-based startup which was founded in 2021 aims to enable employees of its partners to withdraw salary advances based on their accrued wages at any time. It also offers working capital to companies.

Abhi raised funds at a $90 million valuation within a year of its launch and entered the United Arab Emirates in December. The startup is currently in the process of buying a stake in courier company Universal Network Systems Ltd.

Pakistan’s startups have seen funding dry up this year amid one of the country’s worst economic crises. Several startups have closed in recent months, including Airlift and Vavacars, while others such as Maersk-backed Trella have announced their exit from the country.

The government has been scrambling to revive a stalled loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a desperately needed economic bailout, while its foreign exchange reserves plummet to a critical level.

Meanwhile, the country has the fastest inflation in South Asia, with people burdened especially with rising food and fuel costs. Amid the economic crisis, people are accessing salaries from Abhi’s platform much more than before while companies have also started accessing working capital more frequently, Ansari said.

“With this new funding, we can help ease the financial burden on struggling companies.

“The market is still so deep in Pakistan as banks have stepped away when it comes to lending to the real economy. We believe this is the environment for us to really grow,” the CEO said. 

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Robust activity lets PSX climb above 115,000 level again.

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On Friday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) resumed its upward trend, crossing 115,000 points once more.

The PSX had strong action in the morning session, as the KSE-100 index increased by 1,000 points to 115,138.

The notoriously volatile PSX closed Thursday at 114,037 points, up 594 points.

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Meanwhile, in the interbank market this morning, the US dollar fell 7 paisas to Rs278.65 against the Pakistani rupee.

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SBP will announce monetary policy on January 27.

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The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will release its monetary policy on Monday.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the SBP will convene on the first day of the following week to make decisions on monetary policy.

The Monetary Policy decision will be announced by Governor SBP Jameel Ahmad at a news conference on the same day after the MPC meeting, according to an official release.

In December, the central bank reduced policy rates by 200 basis points (bps) to 13 percent.

“In November 2024, headline inflation fell to 4.9 percent year on year, meeting the MPC’s estimates. This decrease was mostly caused by the ongoing decline in food inflation and the phasing out of the impact of the gas tariff increase in November 2023,” SBP stated in an official release.

“However, the Committee noted that core inflation, at 9.7 percent, is proving to be sticky, while consumer and business inflation expectations remain volatile.” To that end, the Committee restated its previous assessment that inflation may remain volatile in the short term before stabilizing within the target range.

“At the same time, growth prospects have slightly improved, as evidenced by a recent increase in high-frequency indicators of economic activity.” Overall, the Committee concluded that its approach of gradual policy rate decreases is keeping inflationary and external account pressures under control while promoting long-term economic growth.

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Finance Minister Meets With World Leaders at World Economic Forum in Davos

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During his attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has met with officials of organisations and leaders of many nations.
Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor, Muhammad Younas, met with Mohammad Aurangzeb.
On the fringes of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2025 Opening Banquet, there was an informal meeting.
Additionally, the Finance Minister met with Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Both leaders discussed economic cooperation and bilateral ties.
Muhammad Aurangzeb also had a meeting with Dp World’s Rizwan Soomro and Yuvraj Narayan.
They talked about how to strengthen Pakistan’s logistics and infrastructure systems to support trade.
“The Pakistani government is committed to advancing joint projects and values partnerships in both business-to-business and business-to-government cooperation,” the finance minister added.

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