ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: The government has received a “very good price” from 11 international banks and investment companies interested in floating $500 million eurobonds on behalf of Pakistan by December this year.

“We will now be finalizing next week or at the most by the end of October all the relevant details to float the bonds before the end of 2003,” said adviser to the Ministry of Finance Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan.

Talking to Dawn here on Thursday, he said that lifting of Pakistan’s ceiling for long-term foreign currency debt from B3 to B2 by Moody’s Investors Service has further brightened chances of Pakistan getting a better price for the proposed eurobonds floatation.

“The representatives of 11 banks and investment companies have been meeting me during the last few days to discuss the details of the proposed transaction,” he asserted.

Dr Khan, who is also the Director General of Debt Coordination Office, said that timely raising of credit rating for the country by Moody’s has sparked competition among 11 foreign banks and investment companies trying to win the bid for floating bonds on behalf of Pakistan.

“Those who are showing increased interest to float eurobond on our behalf maintain that Pakistan is now a risk free country specially for making investment,” he said.

The economic adviser said that all the 11 banks and investment companies had completed their presentations to the government. “And we have just started evaluating their offers and naturally we would give this task to the one who has made the highest offer,” he said. The director general, Debt Coordination Office, however, did not like to reveal the offers made so far at this stage.

Responding to a question, he said that the government has received an acknowledgement from the World Bank to Pakistan’s notice to prepay some of its loans during the current financial year. He said the government was expecting this acknowledgement from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) shortly so that the categorisation of 18 loans could be undertaken by the committee headed by the finance minister. The other members of the committee besides Dr Khan are: Secretary Finance Naveed Ahsan and Secretary Economic Affairs Division Dr Waqar Masood Khan.

The economic advisor said that several calculations have been done by the debt office to prepay this $1.078 million debt. He also said that $4.5 billion worth of foreign loans will be repaid during the next three years period.