Pakistan has formally requested a $10 billion Exchange Stabilisation Support Facility from the United States, a move that would immediately strengthen the country’s foreign exchange reserves and ease persistent pressure on the rupee if approved. The request was presented by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a meeting in Washington on Tuesday, and its disclosure marks the first public confirmation of Islamabad’s bid for a bilateral financial backstop of this scale.

The facility, which would be routed through the US Treasury’s Exchange Stabilisation Fund, is a rarely deployed instrument that can provide dollar loans, credit lines, currency swaps or financial guarantees. Viewed from Washington, such arrangements are exceptional: Argentina received one in 2025, and before that Uruguay was the last recipient in 2002. The proposed five-year maturity would give Pakistan a cushion to manage external debt repayments and currency volatility while it continues implementing fiscal and monetary reforms under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund programme.

Pakistan’s external finances remain heavily dependent on multilateral support and bilateral rollovers. In the last fiscal year, total foreign inflows reached around $27 billion, with Saudi Arabia and China rolling over $9 billion in deposits, according to provisional government data. Gross reserves held by the State Bank stood at $18.5 billion at end-June, but these are largely sustained through refinancing and market purchases. Analysts in London note that a US-backed stabilisation facility would reduce Islamabad’s reliance on such short-term arrangements and could improve sovereign credit ratings, potentially reopening access to international capital markets.

The request follows Pakistan’s role as a mediator in recent US-Iran talks, a diplomatic effort that officials in the region say has raised expectations of greater economic engagement with Washington. The US Treasury declined to comment on the request, and Pakistan’s finance ministry did not immediately respond to queries. A decision from the US administration is the next milestone to watch; diplomatic sources in Washington indicate there are “strong chances” of approval, though no formal timeline has been set.