By Shamim Adam and Shobhana Chandra
April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan's top debt manager said the government will sell bonds exchangeable into shares of a state-owned company for the first time in more than a decade.
Pakistan hired JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc and ABN Amro Holding NV to manage the deal, the first since a 1997 issue, Ashfaque Khan, director general of Pakistan's debt management office, said in an interview on April 12 in Washington. ``It will most probably be in the first half.''
The plan indicates the government is confident in its ability to raise capital on global financial markets at a time when banks have posted billions of dollars of losses on complex credit securities. Sri Lanka, by comparison, won't attempt to sell international bonds because markets aren't ``stable enough,'' the head of its central bank said last week.
Pakistan's bonds will be exchangeable into shares of the state-controlled Oil & Gas Development Co., the nation's biggest fuel explorer. Shares in the Islamabad-based company, 85 percent owned by the government, have climbed 15 percent in the past year. The company in February reported an 8 percent gain in second-quarter profit, spurred by the surge in oil prices.
Officials are working with the banks on details including the size and terms of the offering, Khan said. The government opted for so-called exchangeable bonds because they are less expensive than conventional or Islamic debt, he said.
International Demand
``For this type of transaction the market is still right,'' Khan said in Washington, where he is attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. ``The interest of foreign investors in our markets has increased'' and ``we know there are capital flows that'll be coming,'' he added.
Pakistan's foreign-currency bonds are rated B+ by Standard & Poor's and an equivalent B1 by Moody's Investors Service, the fourth-highest non-investment, or junk, grade.
Sri Lanka, which sold its first overseas bond in October, doesn't have plans to follow up the deal for now, central bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said in an interview on April 12.
Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven nations said April 11 that while emerging economies have been a ``bright spot'' amid the global economic slowdown, they aren't ``immune.''
Foreign Investment
In Pakistan, foreign direct investment is ``only slightly less than last year's level,'' Khan said. He forecast that the nation's foreign-exchange reserves will surpass $15 billion this year, from $13.3 billion in January.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said this month Pakistan's economy may expand 6 percent this financial year, cutting the earlier prediction of 7.2 percent on slower farm and factory growth. The economy also is constrained by inflation that accelerated to the fastest pace in at least five years in March.
The government will try to ensure the deficit, which is already exceeding the full-year target of 4.5 percent of gross domestic product, doesn't top 6 percent, Dar, who took office last month, said in a press conference in Islamabad April 9.
One reason the deficit has burgeoned is that the government subsidizes food and fuel to keep essential goods affordable for the nation's 160 million people. The previous regime shied away from passing on the higher costs of imported oil to consumers, and the new one is now able to do so only gradually, Khan said.
`Every Effort'
``We're making every effort to be around 6 percent'' of GDP for this year's budget deficit, Khan said in the interview. He declined to say what the target may be for the next fiscal year. ``It would be unfair to expect the newly elected government to pass on the oil-price differential entirely in one go.''
Pakistan's government has twice raised petroleum-product prices in the past two months after record crude prices increased import costs for the nation's refiners. Such efforts may continue for another seven to eight months, Khan said.
``Improving the food-supply situation and a continuation of the tight monetary policy will be the right approach'' among other ways to contain inflation, Khan said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Washington D.C. at sadam2@bloomberg.net; Shobhana Chandra in Washington schandra1@bloomberg.net
April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan's top debt manager said the government will sell bonds exchangeable into shares of a state-owned company for the first time in more than a decade.
Pakistan hired JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc and ABN Amro Holding NV to manage the deal, the first since a 1997 issue, Ashfaque Khan, director general of Pakistan's debt management office, said in an interview on April 12 in Washington. ``It will most probably be in the first half.''
The plan indicates the government is confident in its ability to raise capital on global financial markets at a time when banks have posted billions of dollars of losses on complex credit securities. Sri Lanka, by comparison, won't attempt to sell international bonds because markets aren't ``stable enough,'' the head of its central bank said last week.
Pakistan's bonds will be exchangeable into shares of the state-controlled Oil & Gas Development Co., the nation's biggest fuel explorer. Shares in the Islamabad-based company, 85 percent owned by the government, have climbed 15 percent in the past year. The company in February reported an 8 percent gain in second-quarter profit, spurred by the surge in oil prices.
Officials are working with the banks on details including the size and terms of the offering, Khan said. The government opted for so-called exchangeable bonds because they are less expensive than conventional or Islamic debt, he said.
International Demand
``For this type of transaction the market is still right,'' Khan said in Washington, where he is attending the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. ``The interest of foreign investors in our markets has increased'' and ``we know there are capital flows that'll be coming,'' he added.
Pakistan's foreign-currency bonds are rated B+ by Standard & Poor's and an equivalent B1 by Moody's Investors Service, the fourth-highest non-investment, or junk, grade.
Sri Lanka, which sold its first overseas bond in October, doesn't have plans to follow up the deal for now, central bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said in an interview on April 12.
Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven nations said April 11 that while emerging economies have been a ``bright spot'' amid the global economic slowdown, they aren't ``immune.''
Foreign Investment
In Pakistan, foreign direct investment is ``only slightly less than last year's level,'' Khan said. He forecast that the nation's foreign-exchange reserves will surpass $15 billion this year, from $13.3 billion in January.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said this month Pakistan's economy may expand 6 percent this financial year, cutting the earlier prediction of 7.2 percent on slower farm and factory growth. The economy also is constrained by inflation that accelerated to the fastest pace in at least five years in March.
The government will try to ensure the deficit, which is already exceeding the full-year target of 4.5 percent of gross domestic product, doesn't top 6 percent, Dar, who took office last month, said in a press conference in Islamabad April 9.
One reason the deficit has burgeoned is that the government subsidizes food and fuel to keep essential goods affordable for the nation's 160 million people. The previous regime shied away from passing on the higher costs of imported oil to consumers, and the new one is now able to do so only gradually, Khan said.
`Every Effort'
``We're making every effort to be around 6 percent'' of GDP for this year's budget deficit, Khan said in the interview. He declined to say what the target may be for the next fiscal year. ``It would be unfair to expect the newly elected government to pass on the oil-price differential entirely in one go.''
Pakistan's government has twice raised petroleum-product prices in the past two months after record crude prices increased import costs for the nation's refiners. Such efforts may continue for another seven to eight months, Khan said.
``Improving the food-supply situation and a continuation of the tight monetary policy will be the right approach'' among other ways to contain inflation, Khan said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Washington D.C. at sadam2@bloomberg.net; Shobhana Chandra in Washington schandra1@bloomberg.net
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