Pakistan's sovereign bond yields surge sharply

KARACHI: Amid growing doubts over the country's capacity to cope with external obligations with its foreign exchange reserves spent down to bare bones, Pakistan's sovereign bond yields have surged sharply,

"Since December 2021, Pakistan's International Bond yields have spiked significantly. Moreover, with dwindling reserves, one major concern is repayment of a bond worth $1 billion maturing in July 2022, followed by another bond maturing in December 2022 worth $1 billion," brokerage Arif Habib Ltd said in a tweet, Geo News reported.

The yield on five-year third Pakistan International Sukuk Company Ltd, maturing on December 5, 2022 rose to 26.32 per cent as of May 20, 2022 from 3.15 per cent on December 31, 2021, it said, The News reported Sunday. The yield on a 10-year Eurobond maturing on April 15, 2024 increased to 25.17 per cent from 5.13 per cent, it added. The government is negotiating with the IMF to resume a $6 billion stalled loan programme as foreign exchange reserves continue bleeding, intensifying balance of payments woes.

The foreign currency reserves of the central bank declined to $10.2 billion during the week ending May 13, enough to cover less than two months of imports. However, the new coalition government is still indecisive about rolling back energy subsidies that can be a major hurdle in the completion of the successful negotiations with the IMF.

The uncertainty about the resumption of the IMF bailout amid delay in removing fuel and power subsidies and growing political upheaval is fuelling fears of the country's sovereign ratings being downgraded. "The bond yields are going up as Pakistan is out of the IMF programme. Without the IMF programme, there's no visibility of how Pakistan would meet its external obligations," said Samiullah Tariq, the head of research at Pak-Kuwait Investment Company. IANS

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