MoF working on rupee-denominated, dollar-settled bond: Aurangzeb

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Friday that the Ministry of Finance is working on a bond denominated in rupees but settled in dollars, according to Business Recorder. He also said Pakistan is exploring tokenisation of part of its existing Eurobond debt, and that institutions have already been mandated to work on the plan. He did not disclose the size, maturity or issuance timeline of the proposed bond.

Speaking at an Asian Development Bank dialogue on public-private partnerships and privatisation, Aurangzeb said that excessive reliance on banks for government borrowing is unsustainable. He called for deeper debt capital markets and a wider investor base that includes insurers and non-bank financial institutions. The minister added that retail investment in government securities has been encouraged through a JazzCash collaboration and a State Bank app enabling direct purchases.

On the external side, he cited strong remittance inflows and IT export services, which came to USD 4.6 billion over the previous year, while goods exports stayed broadly flat at about USD 30 billion. He set a target of growth above four percent for the current fiscal year and foreign exchange reserves of USD 21 billion by year end, up from USD 18.4 billion on June 30. The government is also monitoring the ongoing US-Iran conflict for its possible effects on growth and inflation.