ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has secured a $3 billion rollover from Saudi Arabia, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Wednesday, as prospects for a proposed $10 billion U.S. backstop facility appeared to have dimmed.
Speaking to journalists at Parliament House, Aurangzeb confirmed that Riyadh had extended the $3 billion financing it provided in April to bridge a gap arising from $3.5 billion in repayments to the United Arab Emirates. The facility matured Oct. 31 under its three-month term.
"It has been extended and for a reasonable period. You don't need to worry as to for how long given the kind of strategic relationship we have," he said.
Aurangzeb said he had a productive meeting with his Saudi counterpart, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, during recent World Bank-IMF meetings in Bangkok. Saudi Arabia had already extended its $5 billion facility until 2028.
Asked whether Pakistan had sought additional support, the minister denied it, saying foreign exchange reserves covered more than three months of imports and would be strengthened to provide four months of import cover by year's end through capital markets.
On the prospects of the $10 billion Exchange Stabilisation Support Facility requested from the United States in July, Aurangzeb sought to lower expectations he himself had raised over the past several months.
"What we asked for back in July and were looking at was the market access. We have got the market access," he said, referring to the $3 billion bond Pakistan issued in September against orders worth $6 billion.
"If that materialises, fantastic, it will be a liquidity support facility. Otherwise, we have plans for further Eurobond issuance, Panda bond issuance and rupee-linked dollar-settled bond," the minister said.
He said he had met with 70 to 80 institutional investors in Bangkok who had a clear view of Pakistan, and that offers were available for five-year and 10-year maturities "because clearly we are looking beyond the IMF programme."
Aurangzeb said the government was looking at the U.S. from a broader perspective, noting that the U.S. Export-Import Bank and Development Finance Corporation needed to support their investors and exporters in Pakistan.
"That is real financing and real credit," he said, adding that the ESSF request was for a liquidity support facility to help the sovereign. "If possible, fine; if not, we are going to move forward, with or without it."
The finance minister also said the IMF Executive Board meeting to approve a $1.2 billion disbursement to Pakistan would be held in December.
Earlier, Aurangzeb told the Senate Standing Committee on Finance that Pakistan was targeting a $4 billion reduction in external debt during the current fiscal year and $3.5 billion next year, compared with $4.5 billion in the last fiscal year.
He said the government was seeking to replace expensive short-term borrowing with longer-maturity financing through bonds and private placements to reduce refinancing risks. External debt had been rising by $5 billion to $6 billion annually, from $45 billion in 2014-15 to around $100 billion, but had increased by only $1 billion annually over the past two years, he said.
"Our objective is not to increase external debt. All the transactions like Eurobond, Panda bond or private placements have been replacement bonds to replace expensive with cheaper facilities," he said, adding that fiscal discipline had helped contain the fiscal and current account deficits. Despite oil and wheat import bills, the current account deficit would be no more than 1% this year, he said.
"This is hard-earned stability that helped create buffers to meet our requirements despite floods and war in the region, and foreign exchange reserves crossed $21.5 billion, which is the best-ever level of reserves in our history," he said.
Finance Secretary Imdadullah Bosal told the committee, presided over by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, that public debt had declined to 68.6% of GDP by the end of June 2026, from 75.1% in fiscal year 2022-23. Year-on-year growth in public debt had slowed to 7.7% in the last fiscal year, the lowest in 20 years, he said.
Bosal said domestic debt amounted to 58.8 trillion rupees by the end of August 2026, down from 68.4 trillion rupees at the end of June, while foreign debt remained stable at $98.2 billion. He reported net financing requirements of $11 billion after rollovers and refinancing, of which $5 billion had already been repaid in the first four months of the current fiscal year. The remaining $6 billion was payable over the next seven months.
The committee took strong exception to difficulties faced by parliamentarians in obtaining foreign exchange for personal travel, saying the humiliation they faced at the hands of banks and the central bank was unacceptable.
Mandviwalla directed the State Bank of Pakistan to review existing procedures, including clearance requirements relating to politically exposed persons and the mandatory personal appearance of parliamentarians before exchange companies, despite their submission of valid passports, tickets and visas.
The committee also expressed serious displeasure over the central bank's response, dated Oct. 30, 2026, to a letter sent by the committee secretary on its behalf to the SBP governor, observing that the matter had been addressed by a deputy director-level officer instead of an appropriately senior authority.
The chairman termed the requirement for personal appearance humiliating and called for an immediate review of existing procedures, warning that the committee would take serious notice if the matter remained unresolved.
