Pakistan has filed a request to China to increase its existing swap line by 10 billion yuan ($ 1.4 billion), said Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, adding that he expected the country to launch a panda bond before the end of the year.

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

“From our perspective, getting 40 billion Renminbi would be a good place to move towards … We just filed that request,” said Aurangzeb.

China’s central bank has promoted currency swaplings with a number of new economies, including like Argentina and Sri Lanka.

Pakistan has also made progress in issuing his first panda bond – debt issued on China’s domestic bond market, denominated in yuan. Negotiations with the Presidents of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) – the two lenders who are in line to give credit improvements to the subject – had been constructive, he said.

“We want to diversify our lending base and we have made some good progress around it – we hope that during this calendar year we can make an initial pressure,” he said.

Meanwhile, Aurangzeb expected the IMF Direction to unsubscribe in early May on the staff level agreement on its new $ 1.3 billion in a $ 7 billion event.

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

On the question of the financial fallout from the tensions with India after the killing of 26 men at a tourist site earlier this month, Aurangzeb said it “would not be useful”.

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