Shehbaz courts five global firms to boost Pakistan credit

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met senior executives from five global financial firms in London on Tuesday and invited them to expand investment and services in Pakistan, officials said.

Reaction pending.

Barclays, JP Morgan and BlackRock Officials said the visits included meetings with Barclays, JP Morgan, Citi, BlackRock and Rothschild & Co, and focused on capital markets, trade finance and corporate banking. The prime minister asked the firms to deepen their footprint in Pakistan as part of efforts to broaden financing sources for the public and private sectors, officials said.

Officials said Shehbaz also opened trading at the London Stock Exchange and formally marked Pakistan’s $3 billion dual-tranche sovereign Eurobond issued earlier this month. Delegations led by JP Morgan’s EMEA co-CEO Matthieu Wiltz and BlackRock’s co-heads for Emerging Markets and Frontiers, Gordon Fraser and Sam Vecht, reiterated institutional interest in sovereign and corporate opportunities, officials said.

Officials said the finance minister and the adviser on privatisation joined the meetings to discuss potential advisory work and privatisation-linked capital flows. The officials framed the talks as part of a push to attract longer-term foreign allocations into Pakistani fixed income and equities.

Officials said markets will watch whether policy consistency and new sovereign issuance support increased allocations before Dec. 31, 2026.