Govt to issue four RFPs for issuance of Panda, Dollar bonds

ISLAMABAD: The government is expected to issue four Request for Proposals (RFPs) in global markets for issuance of Panda bond and Dollar bond. This was informed during a meeting of the Debt Management Office of Ministry of Finance held with financial market participants at PSX to communicate their strategy and debt management plan through various new initiatives under pipeline.

The Debt Management Office is also working on exchange rate linked notes/bonds for local investors to attract dollar liquidity within country or to meet demand of investors with dollar liquidity in place, Finance Division added.

The government is also expected to issue four RFPs in global markets for issuance of Panda bond and Dollar bond. The 10-year Chinese bond currently yields less than 2 percent, while US bond of similar tenor yields between 4-4.5 percent, it added.

The Division stated that the government expects rate on new issuance well within existing secondary market yields of Pakistan bonds, while Panda bonds likely to be further competitive.

To attract international investors in debt market, the team informed that, they are doing roadshows globally to attract genuine liquidity which remains till maturity unlike hedge funds which is considered hot money. They have also finalized list of over 100 global investors as part of their investor outreach activity.

The next maturity of Euro Bond is April 08, 2026, amounting to USD 1.3 billion. The Debt Management Office team mentioned that previous repayment in September 2025 was a nonevent for Pakistan due to sufficient resources available.

The debt management team is planning to hold quarterly/semi-annually meetings with analysts to enhance coverage on debt market and receive forward looking feedback from market.

The Debt Management Office is also planning to have a dedicated investor relation office going forward to ensure timely addressal of investors grievances. The government has also formed a capital market development council under chairmanship of Finance Minister to further improve retail participation and diversify the investor base amongst other points.

Government aims to issue more fixed rate and longer-term bonds to avoid any upward repricing risk going forward. Currently ATM of the domestic debt portion is 4.02 (December 2025) vs 3.8 years in Jun 2025. While the 2028 target for domestic debt is 4.25 years. The focus will remain on increase net issuances of Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs), fixed rate & zerocoupon bonds; while limiting the net issuance of T-bills.

The fixed rate composition has increased to 24.75 percent in December 2025 compared to 18 percent in Jun 2024. The government aims to take this ratio to greater than 30 percent by 2028. Similarly, the ratio of short-term instruments has come down from 24 percent in Jun 2024 to 16.7 percent in Dec 2025.

Currently the share of Shariah instruments in overall domestic debt is 14.25 percent as of Dec 2025 while the 2028 target is > 20 percent. On question related to higher rates on National Saving Certificates (NSS) which restricts the development of retail debt market. The Debt Management Office informed that they are working on this and developments in this regards will also be followed.

Muhammad Khaliquz Zaman, Director Domestic Debt further added that domestic and external debt mix is 70:30 and the ministry aims to further reduce the FX risk by attracting more real money in local currency bond by broadening the investor base. The leading indicators like Gross Financing Need and Average Time to Maturity (ATM) are also improving amidst decent subscription in longer term auctions.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026