ISLAMABAD, Jan 19: Issues involving the prepayment of one-billion-dollar debt to the Asian Development Bank have been resolved, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Monday.

"Arrangements have been completed" to finance the remaining portion of the two ongoing projects and payments to the ADB would be made over the next couple of weeks, he told reporters at a news conference.

He said the two sides had a meeting and "we finalized everything yesterday (on Sunday)". He said alternate arrangements to fund these two projects have also been made but could not be disclosed at this stage.

Referring to the eurobond issue, the minister said the government would hold road shows in February and complete the process within the next month. He said the government has not yet decided about the final size of the eurobond issue, adding it would depend on the market and terms of the bond issue. Expressing optimism regarding the market response, he said the bonds would attract about half a billion dollars.

He ruled out the possibility that Pakistan's move could be affected by other countries' - including Indonesia - eurobond issue, saying it would not affect on Pakistan's move in this regard. He said there was a lot of liquidity in the market.

Meanwhile, an ADB statement quoted its country director M. Ali Shah as saying that for two out of 15 loans selected for prepayment, loan 1424-Pak Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project and loan 1807-Pak Energy Sector Restructuring Programme, there were certain issues on which clarification had been sought from the government.

It said it did not imply that Pakistan's plan to prepay ADB loans has hit a snag because of differences with the government over the proposed termination of its two ongoing loans.

The statement said that there were no differences between the government and ADB on the issue of prepayments. The clarifications sought from the government are expected shortly and the prepayment of these two loans will also be processed as requested by the government.

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