State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad said Monday that Pakistan sees almost half of its maturing debt in the fiscal year (FY) 2023-24 to be rolled over, reported Bloomberg.
In an analyst briefing on Monday, the central bank governor said that around $11.3 billion of the $24.5 billion debt maturing in FY24 will be rolled over. Inflows will be more than enough to cover the remainder of the financing requirement, he added.
“We are in a very comfortable position to meet our debt obligation as compared to a few weeks back,” he remarked.
Pakistan’s financial situation is improving after the country received a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month. This allowed billions of dollars in further financing support from countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It bears mentioning that Gulf countries and China have agreed to prolong debt payments on earlier loans to Pakistan.
Since the IMF loan, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have nearly doubled to over $8 billion.
The country is currently in talks about commercial borrowing and anticipates selling dollar bonds and sukuk debt at the end of the fiscal year. SBP anticipates additional declines in dollar bond yields and forex reserves to surge above $10 billion by June 2024.
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