Pakistan Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb
Islamabad:
Pakistan Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb said the country will issue $300 million worth of panda bonds this year to tap into the Chinese market, state media reported on Friday.
Pakistan Radio reported that the minister said in an interview with Bloomberg that China is the world’s second largest bond market and Chinese investors can take advantage of panda bonds.
The minister said that bonds of US$250 million to US$300 million will be issued initially, and the issuance of panda bonds will be increased later.
He said the government has sufficient cash balances and can repay its debts on time. He said the country was heading in the right direction towards economic stability.
Aurangzeb made it clear that these payments were unlikely to put pressure on the Pakistani rupee and expressed confidence that the currency was expected to remain stable.
The finance minister also said Pakistan would pursue an IMF program for at least three years. He expressed confidence that growth would be better in the next fiscal year, the report said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had said on Thursday that macroeconomic stability in Pakistan would not be possible without another loan from the International Monetary Fund.
Speaking at the Supreme Council of the Special Investment and Facilitation Council (SIFC), he said the government must work towards a medium-term plan of two to three years.
“During these years, the government will have to carry out deep structural reforms,” the prime minister added.
The move comes a day after the government signed a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund that will pave the way for a final $1.1 billion disbursement next month, successfully completing a $3 billion short-term loan program agreed last year.
At the same time, the International Monetary Fund has confirmed that Pakistan is seeking the 24th round of medium-term bailout plan. The two sides are expected to begin negotiations on a new loan soon.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
