Pakistan is focused on securing US financing as it plots a return to global capital markets, the country's finance minister has said, in a major shift after years of relying on state loans from China, the Financial Times reported. Muhammad Aurangzeb told the FT that the $10 billion swap line that Pakistan sought from Washington last month was intended to serve as "a confidence signal" to private investors, as Islamabad's military-backed government looks to capitalise on close ties to the Trump administration and accelerate international borrowing. He added that he saw a "very important role" for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (ExIm Bank) and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which he said had shown "risk appetite for Pakistan". "It's a combination of engagement with the US primarily to focus on trade and investment flows, and to help signalling with respect to international capital markets," he said.
Aurangzeb said Islamabad has received "constructive engagement" from Washington over the $10 billion swap line and hopes to receive an answer "in the next couple of months". Cash-strapped Pakistan has reduced fiscal deficits, brought down inflation and rebuilt reserves under the auspices of a $7 billion, three-year IMF programme approved in 2024. But GDP growth, estimated by the government at 3.7 per cent for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, remains insufficient to meet the needs of its fast-growing population and poverty levels have risen. Aurangzeb said the government wants to stimulate exports to break the import-dependent country's perennial balance of payments crises. Pakistan's trade deficit widened to a four-year high of $39.5 billion in the year to June, and exports fell.