Everything You Need to Know About Govt’s New Rs. 100 Trillion Pakistan Sovereign Wealth Fund

The National Assembly passed the Pakistan Sovereign Wealth Fund 2023 Bill on Monday, which calls for the establishment of a Fund controlled by the federal government, with a head office in Islamabad and other offices in Pakistan and overseas. According to the bill, the Fund will have financial and administrative independence. Its resources will be provided by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the federal government, and the transfer of current federal government assets such as real estate and assets of state-owned firms. The Fund’s authorized capital will be one hundred trillion rupees paid in cash by the federal government, which can be augmented when necessary. According to the bill, a Supervisory Council will oversee the workings of the Fund. The council will consist of the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Planning Minister, Finance Secretary, Governor State Bank of Pakistan, and CEO of the Fund. The Council will also appoint a Board of the Fund with 7 members (directors) from the private sector. The term of every director of the Board shall be five years from the date of appointment. The director of the Board shall be eligible for reappointment for one or more additional terms. Interestingly, the entire ownership of the federal government in the following assets will be transferred to the Fund.   The Fund will determine what information is made public about its practices/activities. Furthermore, except as mandated by a court, no members of the board or staff of the Fund shall divulge to any person any information relevant to the Board’s or Fund’s affairs. In order to accelerate economic growth and fulfill the requirement of infrastructure development in the country, the coalition government sees this bill as a need to make this law for the establishment of the Fund. Authorities hope that the Fund would help decrease the dependence on the government’s resources for capital formation for long-term developmental projects.