Islamabad: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar rejecting reports Pakistan was facing default risk, saying according to Bloomberg it only stood at 10 percent “as opposed to claims of 93 percent”.

Perception of Pakistan’s risk of default worsened with five-year credit default swap (CDS) surging by 30 percentage points in a week to 93 percent on Monday ahead of repayment of $ one billion for maturing international bond early next month.

According to research house, CDS had been at 4.2 percent in January 2021. However, finance minister shared purported infographic of Bloomberg about estimated default probability in emerging markets.

“Bloomberg pitches Pakistan’s one year probability of default at low of 10 percent as opposed to highly dubious number of 93 percent circulated by an unscrupulous local political leader few days ago,” he said while referring to claims of PTI Chairman Imran Khan. “Pakistan will InshaAllah continue to honour its all financial commitments on time!”

A section of global and local experts and bond investors saw rise in CDS as a threat to their receivables.

Yields (rate of return) on $ one billion international bond (Sukuk), which is maturing on December 5, 2022, soared to 120 percent from around 96 percent on Friday, indicating investors’ lack of confidence in Pakistan whether it would be able to repay maturing debt.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 26 2022

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