Pakistan passes law to set up a sovereign wealth fund

PAKISTAN’S upper house of the parliament on Wednesday (Aug 2) passed a law to allow the creation of a sovereign wealth fund which will have the country’s solvent assets parked in it.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar passed the bill that was already passed in the lower house of the parliament. The upper house’s speaker, Sadiq Sanjrani, announced the bill becoming law in a live telecast.

The South Asian nation is asset solvent, Dar told the house, saying that’s why he had discarded any talk in recent months of the country defaulting on its sovereign debt.

Dar said the wealth fund will initially have seven assets worth 2.3 trillion Pakistani rupee (S$10.8 billion) parked in it. REUTERS