With almost weekly one-two punches from China and the US Federal Reserve, the post-summer holiday environment for emerging market bonds has been volatile. Yet when other emerging markets were pulling or delaying their own Eurobond sales, Pakistan was able to issue successfully. Citi, a regular in recent Pakistani issuance, was a joint bookrunner on its latest deal.
Pakistan has not always enjoyed such access. It was shut out of the international bond market for seven years after 2007, as its security situation deteriorated and the country's economy went with it. The 2013 election of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government under prime minister Nawaz Sharif was notable on at least two counts. It was the first time in Pakistan’s 66-year history that one civilian government was replaced by another, having served a full term without being ousted by the military or public protest. And second, Mr Sharif’s was a centre-right government committed to reforming the economy.
