By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is heading to Bangkok for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank with a fresh staff-level agreement on about $1.2 billion in IMF financing in hand and a plan to press the country’s case for further credit-rating upgrades with all three major agencies.
Aurangzeb leaves Saturday to lead Pakistan’s delegation to the Oct. 12-18 gatherings, the finance ministry said in a statement. He will undertake more than 60 engagements with international financial institutions, finance ministers, development partners, global investors, banks, rating companies, think tanks and international media.
The trip comes days after the IMF said its team reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistani authorities on the fourth review of the 37-month Extended Fund Facility and the third review of the 28-month Resilience and Sustainability Facility, subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board. Pakistan would gain access to about $1 billion under the Extended Fund Facility and $210 million under the sustainability arrangement once the board signs off. Talks led by mission chief Iva Petrova ran in Karachi and Islamabad from Sept. 23 to Oct. 7.
The IMF said Pakistan’s current account was broadly balanced in the fiscal year that ended in June, helped by strong remittances, with gross foreign-exchange reserves rising to about $21.5 billion by the end of September. It urged Islamabad to implement the FY27 budget firmly, with an underlying primary surplus target of 2% of gross domestic product, and called on the State Bank of Pakistan to keep policy appropriately tight until inflation returns durably to its target range.
The finance ministry said the visit comes as Pakistan continues its transition from “macroeconomic stabilisation towards sustainable, investment and export-led growth, while advancing structural reforms and strengthening engagement with international capital markets and development partners.”
In Bangkok, Aurangzeb will hold a series of meetings with IMF and World Bank leadership, including the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. The talks will focus on Pakistan’s macroeconomic outlook, reform progress, private-sector development and future cooperation. He will also attend the IMF managing director’s meeting with finance ministers, central bank governors and heads of regional financial institutions from the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The minister is also scheduled to meet the leadership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development, the Saudi Fund for Development, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the ECO Trade and Development Bank, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and the International Organization for Migration.
On the bilateral front, he will meet counterparts from Saudi Arabia, China, Turkiye, Iran, the UK and host country Thailand, the ministry said. He will also hold talks with the US Department of the Treasury on economic cooperation and Pakistan’s reform and investment agenda. He is set to take part in investment seminars, sovereign investor forums and roundtables with international financial institutions, and to meet Alibaba International Digital Commerce to discuss Pakistan’s digital economy, e-commerce and investment opportunities.
Meetings with Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and S&P Global are central to the schedule. Pakistan has been courting the agencies as it rebuilds access to global debt markets. S&P raised Pakistan’s long-term rating to B from B- in July, its first upgrade in nine years, citing stronger institutions, fiscal consolidation and rebuilt reserves. Fitch rates the country one notch lower, at B-, with a stable outlook. Aurangzeb has said Pakistan is working with the agencies to get back to B+ within about 12 months.
The market access has widened this year. Pakistan returned to international bond markets in April after a four-year gap, raising $750 million through a three-year Eurobond. It also issued its first yuan-denominated Panda bond, worth 1.75 billion yuan. On Sept. 3, Pakistan completed its largest international bond sale in a single deal: $3 billion in two tranches. It sold $1.75 billion of 5½-year notes at a 7.50% coupon and $1.25 billion of 10-year notes at 7.90%. Orders reached nearly $6 billion. Aurangzeb said the tax-to-GDP ratio had risen to 10.3% from 8.1%, while acknowledging more work remained.
“Across these engagements, the finance minister will highlight Pakistan’s progress in restoring macroeconomic stability, strengthening fiscal and external buffers, advancing structural reforms and returning to international capital markets,” the ministry said. It added that he would set out the government’s priorities for investment, exports, private-sector-led growth, job creation and greater financial inclusion.
The meetings are being held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center. More than 15,000 participants from over 190 member countries are expected, and it is Thailand’s first time hosting the event in more than 35 years.
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