Pakistan’s first ‘gender bond’ on the cards

The subscription for Pakistan’s first gender bond, which will help a microfinance provider raise Rs2.5 billion for onward lending, will be complete in the next “four to six weeks”. Speaking to a group of reporters on Tuesday, InfraZamin Pakistan CEO Maheen Rahman said the privately placed bond will subsequently be listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange within 180 days. InfraZamin, which is a credit guarantee provider backed by international development financial institutions, has joined hands with microfinance player Kashf Foundation to bring the country’s first gender bond to institutional capital market investors. Kashf will use the funds for lending exclusively to women for the development of micro-infrastructure such as rural area school construction, flood rehabilitation of damaged homes and expansion of women-led micro-businesses. A bond must fulfil certain global standards to be categorised as a gender bond. Only a handful of gender bonds had been floated internationally, Ms Rahman said, adding that the Pakistani bond will “probably” be the first of its kind in South Asia as well as the Middle East.