Maybank of Malaysia is set to pay as much as $1bn for a minority stake in Muslim Commercial Bank of Pakistan, a purchase welcomed by Pakistan’s new finance minister as evidence of renewed investor confidence in his politically-troubled country.

Ishaq Dar, who took over as finance minister in March, also said on Sunday that Pakistan would return to the financial markets with a sovereign bond issue as soon as spreads improved. Following the recent shelving of a planned convertible bond issue, which had been expected to be worth between $500m and $1bn, investors had been left uncertain about whether the decision meant that the new government had turned against issuing debt. But Mr Dar said that “an exchangeable bond is not an option now, but a sovereign bond is”.