Pakistan has asked the United States for a $10 billion exchange stabilization facility in a move aimed at strengthening its foreign exchange reserves, supporting the rupee, and reducing dependence on multilateral lenders, Reuters reported.
The request was reportedly made to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and seeks a bilateral exchange stabilization support facility with a maturity of up to five years.
If approved, the financing would provide Pakistan with an additional liquidity buffer as the country continues implementing economic reforms under its International Monetary Fund (IMF) program.
The request comes after Pakistan’s diplomatic engagement during the Iran conflict, which has raised expectations that Islamabad could leverage its growing strategic importance to secure stronger economic cooperation with Washington.
During a meeting in Washington on Tuesday, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb discussed Pakistan’s economic vulnerabilities arising from regional geopolitical developments with Bessent. While the Finance Ministry confirmed the meeting, it did not mention the reported request for the stabilization facility.
According to the ministry, Aurangzeb called for greater US support to help Pakistan improve access to international capital markets, increase foreign exchange reserves, and strengthen its sovereign credit profile.
Both sides also reaffirmed their commitment to expanding bilateral economic cooperation, encouraging US investment, and advancing strategic projects. The US Treasury declined to comment on the reported request, while Pakistan’s Finance Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for additional comment.
Pakistan remains under a $7 billion IMF program that requires fiscal discipline, tax reforms, and tighter monetary policies. The country narrowly avoided a sovereign default in 2023 after securing a $3 billion IMF standby arrangement before later obtaining a $7 billion Extended Fund Facility and an additional $1.3 billion climate resilience loan. Despite these measures, the country’s external financing continues to rely heavily on official support from international partners, including China and Saudi Arabia.
Exchange stabilization facilities are uncommon financial arrangements provided through the US Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund to help countries strengthen reserves and stabilize their currencies.
Ssuch an agreement would not only improve Pakistan’s external liquidity but also send a strong signal of US confidence in the country’s economic reforms. Pakistan’s central bank expects foreign exchange reserves to reach nearly $20 billion by the end of 2026, although risks from global energy prices, regional geopolitical tensions, and limited foreign investment continue to weigh on the country’s economic outlook.
Pakistan looks to shore up its fragile external position, the prospect of a US exchange stabilisation facility has emerged as a potentially significant lever, one that would function as both a liquidity backstop and a political signal.
Such a facility, officials and analysts believe, could ease pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves and the rupee, while gradually loosening Islamabad’s long-standing reliance on International Monetary Fund (IMF) tranches and successive ad hoc rescue arrangements.
That dependence has come at a steep political price. The IMF-backed reform programme has restored a measure of macroeconomic stability, but only through higher taxes, tight controls on spending, and a squeeze on the fiscal space available for development and welfare, measures that carry mounting political cost for the government.
The reforms have not gone unnoticed by ratings agencies. Fitch noted in April that Pakistan’s adherence to the IMF programme had bolstered its funding capacity, while rebuilt foreign exchange buffers offered a cushion against economic shocks emanating from the conflict in the Middle East.
Yet deeper vulnerabilities persist. The agency cautioned that rising energy costs and potential supply disruptions could sharply erode the country’s reserves. Foreign investment, meanwhile, has remained thin, deterred by recurring external crises, policy uncertainty, security risks, a history of profit-repatriation curbs, and a narrow export base. With its credit rating still lodged deep in speculative-grade territory, borrowing costs remain elevated and access to international markets constrained.
Against this backdrop, Islamabad has sought to leverage its ties with the Trump administration to address some of these structural weaknesses. Economic cooperation between the two sides has so far extended across cryptocurrency, real estate and mining.
Pakistan has signed a stablecoin agreement for cross-border payments with an affiliate of World Liberty Financial, the main crypto venture of President Donald Trump’s family.
It has also pursued a memorandum of understanding with the US government to redevelop the shuttered, Pakistan International Airlines-owned Roosevelt Hotel in New York, and has actively courted American mining investment, including in Reko Diq, where the US Export-Import Bank has announced $1.25 billion in financing.
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