NEW YORK-
Pakistan’s move to issue Eurobonds worth $500 million after a gap of seven years has received “good response” from bond managers in Dubai, London, Toronto and New York, and a final decision in this regard could come as early as Wednesday, Finance Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar said on Monday.
At the end of his hectic “Bond Roadshow”, Dar told cheering members of the Pakistani community that international confidence in the country’s economy had grown manifold and he expected the bond paper to be oversubscribed.
The minister said that at the time he completed his discussions with bond managers at the Wall Street on Monday evening, markets in the Far East were closed and he was awaiting the reaction from there.
He would then carry out a detailed analysis of the responses received during his talks in the four cities and then brief Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.
He said a decision to launch Eurobonds was expected to be taken by Wednesday.
Giving an upbeat assessment of Pakistan’s economy, Dar said the PML-N government, which inherited a host of acute problems left behind by the previous government, was strictly following the roadmap set in its election manifesto to pursue four Es — economy, energy, education and eliminating extremism.
In the past eight months, he said economy had begun to show signs of revival and it was now moving on the right track.
All international financial institutions, including the World Bank and IMF, have praised Pakistan’s performance that has made the country an attractive destination for foreign investment, the minister said.