Pakistani Finance Minister Mohamed Orenquet said that Pakistan has submitted a request to China to increase the exchange agreement valid by 10 billion yuan (1.4 billion dollars), expecting that Islamabad Panda bonds will be issued before the end of the year.
Reuters quoted Orencope as saying on the sidelines of the Spring Fund and the World Bank in Washington that Pakistan has already had a 30 billion yuan currency exchange agreement ($ 4.1 billion).
He said: “From our point of view, reaching 40 billion yuan (5.5 billion dollars) will be a serious location to move towards it … so we have just made this request.”
The Chinese People’s Bank is promoting agreements to currency exchange with a group of emerging economies, including Argentina and Sri Lanka.
Diversification of borrowing
Pakistan has made progress in issuing its first Banda bonds, which are debt bonds issued in the Chinese local market, monopolized by the yuan.
The Pakistani minister said that the talks with the heads of the Asian Bank for Investment in Infrastructure and the Asian Development Bank, the two lenders ready to provide credit reinforcements for the issuance, were constructive.
He added: “We want to diversify the base of our borrowing, and we have made good progress in this regard … and we hope that during this year we can come out with the first issuance of bonds.”
At the same time, Orentev expected that the Executive Council of the International Monetary Fund will believe in early May, an agreement at the level of experts on a new loan of $ 1.3 billion in the framework of a program related to climate flexibility, in addition to ratifying the first review of the current rescue program worth $ 7 billion.
The approval of the Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund will allow the exchange of a billion dollars in the program, which Pakistan started with the Fund in 2024 and played a major role in the stability of the Pakistani economy.
India tensions
When asked by the minister about the economic repercussions of tension with India, following the killing of 26 in a tourist site earlier this month, Orinsheb said that tension “will not be useful.”
The attack sparked anger and sadness in India, as well as calls to take action against Pakistan, which New Delhi accuses of financing and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir, a region that the two sides contest and fought two wars on it.
After the attack, India and Pakistan took a series of mutual measures, as Pakistan closed its air field in front of Indian airlines and hung commercial ties, while India suspended the 1960 River Treaty that regulates the sharing of the Sindh River and its tributaries.
Orencope expected a growth of about 3% in the current fiscal year that ends in June 2025 and ranges between 4 and 5% in the next year, with expectations that he would reach 6% after that.
