Pakistan to refinance short-term external debt to reduce rollover risks: Aurangzeb

Pakistan plans to refinance some of its short-term external debt into longer maturities over the next two to three years to reduce rollover risks, while keeping its overall external debt, estimated at close to $100 billion, broadly unchanged, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said to Bloomberg News on Monday.

“The way I was explaining to you earlier as well, this year, it is not a question that we absolutely need to cover the external financing gap, but for the next two to three years, what we do want to do is to see if some of our short-term external debt can be refinanced into longer tenors, longer maturities, so [the] country does not have to go into this rollover risk of short-term debt.

 “We want to keep the overall quantum of our external debt, which is close to $100 billion, but think about it mostly as replacement rates, as diversification and elongating maturities,” said Aurangzeb, while talking at Bloomberg: The China Show.

Talking about raising capital from the international markets, the finance minister said that the country is “not in a rush” to issue bonds this fiscal year.

“We have given a mandate for Islamic Sukuks and, for the first time, dollar-settled but rupee-denominated bonds. A lot of reverse inquiries are coming through on that as well.

“Going forward, we are going to issue RFPs for the remaining Panda bonds. For the first time, you are also going to see if we can go for tokenisation of our existing Eurobonds,” said Aurangzeb.

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The finance minister departed for Bangkok, Thailand, last week to lead Pakistan’s delegation to the World Bank Group–IMF Annual Meetings 2026, scheduled to be held from October 12 to 18, 2026.

During the visit, the finance minister will represent Pakistan at key events of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group and undertake an extensive programme of over 60 high-level engagements with international financial institutions, finance ministers and policymakers, development partners, global investors, banks, credit rating agencies, think tanks and international media.

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.