Islamabad: Pakistan is advancing toward a one billion dollar Panda Bond Program with the inaugural issuance targeted for January. This was stated by Adviser to the Finance Minister, Khurram Schehzad, in a post on his X handle.

According to Radio Pakistan, during a meeting in Islamabad regarding Pakistan’s inaugural Panda Bond issuance, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb emphasized that Pakistan’s entry into the Chinese onshore bond market is being pursued as a structured and programmatic financing strategy, aligned with prudent debt management objectives. He noted that the Panda Bond program is envisaged at approximately one billion dollars, with the inaugural tranche planned at an equivalent of 250 million dollars. Preparatory work for subsequent issuances under ‘Panda Series II’ has already commenced, with Chinese regulatory authorities fully informed of this phased approach.

The meeting highlighted that approvals from multilateral partners have been secured and engagement with Chinese institutional investors has been constructive. Investor sentiment has been particularly strong and highly constructive, with broad-based interest and encouraging feedback from a diversified investor base in this competitive inaugural issuance.

The participants pointed out that prevailing market conditions remain supportive, with broad-based investor interest and orderly market functioning. Documentation and guarantees are in place, and engagement with financial institutions is progressing as planned.

The Finance Minister expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to prudent, market-based financing, noting that the inaugural Panda Bond will further support Pakistan’s medium-term debt sustainability and diversification of funding sources.