��������Ƶ

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is preparing to debut yuan-denominated bonds this year to shore up finances, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told Bloomberg in an interview Monday, saying his government remained optimistic it would meet the terms of an International Monetary Fund bailout program.

The South Asian nation is planning to raise up to $250 million from Chinese investors over the next six to nine months, Aurangzeb said of the plan that comes as Pakistan’s sovereign rating has been upgraded recently by all three credit agencies. Aurangzeb said he expected further upgrades, and the challenge was to get into a “single-B” category, which would allow the country to return to global bond markets to raise funds.

“The country is very keen to tap the Panda bonds and the Chinese capital markets,” Aurangzeb said on the sidelines of the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong. “We have been remiss as a country not to tap it previously.”

The latest figure is slightly lower than the $300 million the finance minister was targeting in a March 2024 interview. China International Capital Corporation is advising Pakistan on the issuance of Panda bonds, Aurangzeb said.

Pakistan has enjoyed some stability from two years ago when an IMF bailout deal was in limbo and inflation and interest rates were above 20 percent. The government is optimistic it will meet the terms for an ongoing $7 billion loan, the finance minister said. 

The IMF, which is scheduled to visit Pakistan next month, wants Pakistan to broaden its tax base and reach a tax-to-GDP ratio of 13.5 percent, from 10 percent in December, Aurangzeb said.

“We are well on our way to achieve that target, not only because the IMF is saying that but because from my perspective the country needs to get into that benchmark to make our fiscal situation sustainable,” he said.

After Pakistan clinched the IMF bailout last year, it has been getting some reprieve, including from cooling inflation that provides space for policymakers to cut borrowing costs further and help prop up a nation that remains hammered by structural weaknesses. Stronger remittances, a bright spot, have also helped shore up currency reserves.

The rupee, as a result, rose about 2 percent in 2024, among best performers in emerging markets. The benchmark stock index outperformed nearly all other equities markets last year.

Pakistan still remains in a tough spot.

The government has to increase taxes to secure a fresh $1 billion loan tranche from the IMF or miss the lender’s tax revenue requirement for fiscal year ending June 2025 which could put the bailout at risk, Bloomberg Economics’ Ankur Shukla said in a note on Jan. 8.

Having gone through 25 loan programs over half a century, Pakistan must institute durable reforms in key areas of the energy sector, tax collection and state-owned enterprises to end a cycle of indebtedness, Aurangzeb told an IMF forum in October.

On Monday, Aurangzeb said the nation’s gross domestic product would probably expand 3.5 percent in the fiscal year ending June. Pakistan had set a 3.6 percent economic growth target after a 2.5 percent expansion the prior financial year.

The State Bank of Pakistan, which has cut the benchmark rate to the lowest in more than two years, is scheduled to announce its decision on Jan. 27 while inflation is expected to stabilize within the target range of 5 percent–7 percent in the next 12 months.

“We are into that phase of stabilization,” Aurangzeb said. “Now where do we go from here? We have to focus on sustainable growth. We are now very focused on fundamentally changing the DNA of the economy to make it export-led.”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and ��������Ƶ have signed the Hajj agreement 2025, the spokesperson of Pakistan’s religion ministry said on Monday, according to which 179,210 pilgrims from the South Asian country would be able to perform the annual pilgrimage this year.

The agreement was signed by Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain and Saudi Minister of Hajj and Umra Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabi’ah in Jeddah. Hussain arrived in the Kingdom on Sunday for a three-day visit to attend the Global Hajj and Umrah Conference and Expo in Jeddah. 

“As per the agreement, 179,210 Pakistanis will perform the Hajj this year,” the religious affairs ministry’s spokesperson said, according to Pakistan’s Press Information Department (PID). “It has been agreed to provide Pakistani Hajj pilgrims the best possible facilities.”

The spokesperson said Pakistani Hajj pilgrims will be provided a special place in Mina where the rates will be low, the spokesperson said. 

“A shortened Hajj program of 20 to 25 days has been introduced to make the Hajj journey more accessible, easy and comfortable,” he said, adding that pilgrims will have the option to spend four to eight days in Madinah during the Hajj. 

He said every Pakistani pilgrim will receive a specially designed bag containing the Pakistani flag, QR code for identification and information relevant to the Hajj. 

The spokesperson said Hussain will participate in the four-day Hajj conference, adding that more agreements will also be signed with institutions and companies responsible for providing facilities to pilgrims. 

Pakistan’s quota of 179,210 Hajj pilgrims for Pakistan in 2025 will be divided equally between government and private schemes.

For the first time, Pakistan’s Hajj policy allowed pilgrims last year to make payments in installments. Under this scheme, the first installment of Rs 200,000 ($717) had to be submitted with the application, the second installment of Rs 400,000 ($1,435) within 10 days of balloting and the remaining amount by Feb. 10 this year.

The Pakistani religious affairs ministry has also launched the Pak Hajj 2025 mobile application, available for both Android and iPhone users, to guide pilgrims. Additionally, the government announced a reduction in airfare, lowering ticket prices for federal program pilgrims to Rs 220,000 [$785.41], down from last year’s Rs 234,000 [$835.39].

Pakistan International Airlines, Saudi Airlines, and private carriers have agreed to transport pilgrims this year.