Re-read my April 2019 blogpost on Pakistan Banao Certificate. Threading it as no one reads blogposts. I was pissed.

PM looking for scapegoat when it failed. "While economists would agree that success or otherwise...may be partly attributed to PM's personality"

"A case of launching first and thinking later" - Announcing up coming roadshows not realizing that securities marketing may require some sort of regulatory approval. Itnay saaray international banker subah shaam TC kartay hain, no one told the government.

The bond was launched on Jan 31, 2019. Zulfi Bukhari made most of this opportunity. https://twitter.com/mophrd/status/1091010721528332289

Little to no marketing of the bond except tweets. Which Khaqan Najeeb of Ministry of Finance does on Feb 1, March 3, and March 19. Shehzad Roy makes an appeal on April 5 that too on twitter. Wasim Sattaybaaz did one. Compare it to 24/7 TV marketing of Chief Jester's Dam Fund

A month after the launch i.e. on March 5, Government decides to approve a budget to market the bonds by... wait for it... cutting subsidies.

If you were wondering, who the banks were and what services they delivered or promised to deliver to be compensated with Rs.180 million, wonder no more. It included JS Bank which doesn't have an overseas branch.

How did banks marketed bonds and provided the services mentioned above that they needed to be compensated for? By tweeting of course, and all on Feb 21/22. The link in the tweets goes to not the banks' websites but to Pakistan Banao Certificate website. Same format in each tweet

It was an overseas targeted instrument. Expats are keen on sharia compliant instruments. It could have easily have been launched as a sukuk.

Didn't just government turned Jinnah Terminal over to SPV overnight recently to launch sharia compliant PIBs for local Islamic Banks

Plus there were operational issues. Detailed in the blogpost if interested. https://medium.com/@REInvestor/how-not-to-launch-a-diaspora-bond-11d28d968874

Some times a little more is required than just social media marketing

Hum na hongay to kon rakhay ga in cheezon ka record.