ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves for the first time in history would touch $20 billion benchmark within next few days.
“We are expecting to receive at least $1 billion in the shape an IMF tranche and auction of Eurobond by the end of current month,” a senior official of the Ministry of Finance said, wishing not to be named. The inflows of dollars would help in increasing the country’s foreign exchange reserves, he added.
Pakistan’s current foreign exchange reserves are at historic height of $18.7 billion. The reserves would likely touch $20 billion by the end of this month or start of October. Reserves could increase to $20 billion, which would cover 4-5 months import bill of the country.
The executive board meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would hold on September 28 to consider the eighth review under the extended arrangement and request for waivers of nonobservance of performance criteria. The economic managers of Pakistan are optimistic that the Fund would approve to release next tranche worth of around $502 million. The country had so far received $4.05 billion from the IMF in eight installments since September 2013.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is also going for the auction of Eurobond in international market in next week that would generate minimum $1 billion. “Our initial estimates are to generate $500 million. However, amount can enhance if foreign investors take more interest in investing in our bond,” the official remarked.
The government in budget projected to generate $1 billion from the Eurobond during ongoing financial year 2015-16. The Eurobond worth $1 billion is part of the $9 billion foreign economic assistance projected for the current fiscal year.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar left on Tuesday for New York to lead conclusion of a series of roadshows taking place over the past few days in London and a few major cities in the United States for the launch of Eurobond. The shows began on Sept 18 from London as Secretary Finance Dr Waqar Masood and Governor SBP Ashraf Mahmood Wathra held marketing sessions with leading investors, representatives of leading banks, multinational companies and other financial institutions.
Second round of roadshows was held in Los Angeles and Boston this week. The concluding session on Sept 24 in New York would determine the pricing of the bond and based on market response and pricing, the government would decided the final size of the transaction.
The PML-N government, since coming into the power on June 5 2013, had floated the Bond twice. The government in April 2014 had raised $1 billion through five-year Eurobond at a fixed rate of 7.25 percent and $1 billion were generated through 10-year bonds at a fixed rate of 8.25 percent. In the second phase, Pakistan in November 2014 had raised $1 billion from international debt markets through the issuance of five-year dollar-denominated Sukuk bonds.