WASHINGTON: Pakistan has put in a request to China to augment its existing swap line by 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said, adding he expected the country would launch a Panda bond before year-end.

Pakistan has an existing 30 billion yuan swap line already, Aurangzeb told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group spring meetings in Washington.

“From our perspective, getting to 40 billion renminbi would be a good place to move toward ... we just put in that request,” Aurangzeb said.

China’s central bank has been promoting currency swap lines with a raft of emerging economies, including the likes of Argentina and Sri Lanka.

Pakistan has also made progress on issuing its first panda bond — debt issued on China’s domestic bond market, denominated in yuan. Talks with the presidents of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) — the two lenders who are in line to provide credit enhancements for the issue — had been constructive, he said.

“We want to diversify our lending base and we have made some good progress around that — we are hoping that during this calendar year we can do an initial print,” he said.

Meanwhile, Aurangzeb expected the IMF executive board to sign off in early May on the Staff Level Agreement on its new $1.3 billion arrangement under a climate resilience loan program as well as the first review of the ongoing $7 billion bailout program.

Getting the green light from the IMF board would trigger a $1 billion payout under the program, which the country secured in 2024 and has played a key role in stabilizing Pakistan’s economy.

Asked about the economic fallout from the tensions with India following the killing of 26 men at a tourist site earlier this month, Aurangzeb said it was “not going to be helpful.”

The attack triggered outrage and grief in India, along with calls for action against neighbor Pakistan, whom New Delhi accuses of funding and encouraging terrorism in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over.

After the attack, India and Pakistan unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines and suspending trade ties, and India suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that regulates water-sharing from the Indus River and its tributaries.

Trade flows between the two countries had already fallen off sharply following past frictions and totalled just $1.2 billion last year.

Aurangzeb estimated growth around 3% in the current financial year which ends in June 2025, and in the 4-5% range next year, with a view to hitting 6% thereafter.

KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday, expressing condolences over a deadly explosion at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port and discussing recent regional developments, including tensions with India.

At least four people were killed and more than 500 injured when a powerful blast ripped through the port in the southern city of Bandar Abbas earlier in the day, according to Iranian state media.

Authorities in Tehran said the explosion likely originated from a fire at a hazardous materials storage depot, with footage showing thick black smoke rising from the site and helicopters deployed to control the blaze.

“I spoke to my brother, Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian @drpezeshkian, President of Iran this evening, to express my deep shock at the tragic explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port, Bandar Abbas,” Sharif said in a social media post, adding that he expressed solidarity with the neighboring state on the loss of lives and prayed for early recovery of the injured.

The Shahid Rajaee port, located in Hormozgan province, is Iran’s largest commercial port. Iranian President Pezeshkian has ordered an investigation into the explosion, dispatching the interior minister to oversee the situation.

The blast caused significant damage to port infrastructure and was felt up to 50 kilometers away, according to Iranian news agencies.

During the call, Sharif also briefed Pezeshkian on Pakistan’s position regarding India’s recent actions following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people earlier this week.

India has blamed Pakistan-based groups for the assault, expelled Pakistani diplomats and suspended the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty.

Islamabad has denied any involvement, offered a neutral investigation and warned that the use of water as a weapon was unacceptable and would be resisted.

Sharif said Pakistan desired regional peace and condemned militant violence in all forms and manifestations. He also reaffirmed Islamabad’s support for the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination as enshrined in UN resolutions.

President Pezeshkian thanked Sharif for Pakistan’s message of solidarity and invited him to visit Tehran, according to the statement.

Pakistan and Iran share a long border and maintain complex political and economic ties.

Only a day earlier, Tehran had offered to mediate between Pakistan and India following the Kashmir attack, expressing readiness to help de-escalate tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

– With input from AFP