Pakistan will issue Yuan-denominated Panda Bonds” as early as June to further integrate its capital markets with that of China, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Muhammad Aurangzeb said.
In an interview with South China Morning Post (SCMP), the minister also assured more cooperation with Beijing on the next phase of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)–a key initiative for boosting bilateral trade and investment.
He also called for more participation from China’s private sector and export-led industries to transform Pakistan’s debt-laden economy. Aurangzeb said Pakistan aimed to raise US$200 million to US$250 million from Chinese investors.
The minister is in Hong Kong for the two-day Asian Financial Forum, which began on Monday.
“Since I took over [in March 2024], I have been very vocal about this – that we want to go for panda bonds, an inaugural sovereign panda bond … I’m pushing everyone, including our own teams, to see if we can get this done before June,” the paper quoted as having said.
The minister added that Pakistan had followed Egypt’s lead to issue the yuan bonds on the back of credit improvement from the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
He said, Pakistan had endured years-long inflation and was pushed to the brink of default in 2023 as its economy withered amid political chaos and economic mismanagement. But the country’s economy rebounded last year as the inflation rate dropped from nearly 38 per cent in May 2023 to 4.1 per cent last month.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pakistan also reached an agreement on a 37-month extended bailout loan of about US$7 billion, with some of the country’s main debt holders, including China, agreeing to a one-year debt rollover last year.