Pakistan Asks US Treasury for $10 Billion, Says It's Not a Bailout

Pakistan wants $10 billion from the United States. Its finance minister insists it's not a bailout.

Muhammad Aurangzeb told Business Recorder, in an interview published Thursday, that Islamabad has submitted a formal request to the US Treasury Department for what officials are calling an Exchange Stabilization Support Facility. The request is real. The money is not guaranteed.

"This is not about a credit line or a loan or whatever," Aurangzeb said, according to reporting carried by PTI and picked up by Times of India, Rediff, Times Now, and Mid-Day. "This is a signal about our currency stability, a signal about our foreign exchange stability, and that in turn also allows us that we can go to the market."

Pakistan wants Washington's name attached to its currency so private investors stop treating the rupee like a liability.

No Deal Yet, Answer Expected by September

Aurangzeb was clear that talks are ongoing and nothing has been finalized. According to nation.com.pk, he said Pakistan expects a response from either the US Export-Import Bank or the Treasury Department by the end of September. Daily Pakistan's Islamabad desk reported the same September timeline, adding that Pakistan is simultaneously in talks with EXIM Bank and China's Development Fund about extending the maturity of existing bilateral loans out to 10 years.

This is an open request sitting on someone's desk in Washington, with Islamabad hoping for a yes.

Why Pakistan Needs This

Pakistan came close to default in 2023. It got pulled back from the edge by the International Monetary Fund and bilateral partners, according to multiple outlets including Outlook Business and Times of India. It's currently working through a $7 billion IMF program agreed in 2024.

Pakistan has repeatedly turned to the IMF and friendly countries to bridge gaps in its external financing and avoid default, according to reporting from Times Now and other outlets. Aurangzeb said Islamabad is grateful for that support "over the past decade, particularly during the last three years." But he also said the government wants out of that cycle, describing its financing model as having relied heavily on loans, deposits and repeated rollovers from friendly countries.

"Some will succeed, while with others there might be issues," he said of the broader financing push, according to nation.com.pk and Times Now. This is a strategy, not a sure thing.

The Credit Rating Angle

Aurangzeb also tied the US request to a bigger goal: dragging Pakistan's sovereign credit rating up. He said the rating has been "stuck since 2003-04" and that Islamabad wants to hit at least B+.

A better rating means cheaper borrowing and longer maturities, five to seven years, potentially ten, instead of the short-term bilateral rollovers Pakistan has depended on for years. That's the whole point of the US ask: a stability signal makes rating agencies and bond markets more comfortable lending directly to Pakistan instead of routing everything through emergency financing.

What This Isn't

Skeptics will look at a cash-strapped country with a recent near-default and a long history of IMF and friendly-nation support and call this what it looks like: another country asking a wealthier government to backstop its currency. That's not an unreasonable read given the track record.

But Aurangzeb's own framing pushes back on that directly. He's not asking for cash to spend. According to the finance minister, the proposed Exchange Stabilization Support Facility is meant to signal foreign exchange stability and reassure international capital markets, rather than function as a conventional loan or credit line. Whether markets buy that distinction is a separate question from whether the request is genuine.

What's Unresolved

No agreement exists yet. Aurangzeb himself said negotiations are underway but nothing has been finalized. Nobody has said what conditions, if any, Washington would attach, or whether this connects to broader US-Pakistan strategic conversations.

The September deadline Aurangzeb cited is his own expectation. Whether Washington says yes, no, or nothing at all by then is the next thing to watch.