ISLAMABAD - Following staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November 2023, Pakistan had received $1.6 billion inflows from various international lenders in December.
In overall, Pakistan has received $8.16 billion loans from international lenders in the first six months (July to December) of the current fiscal year. The country has received $5.96 billion in budget and project financing and another $2.2 billion came in State Bank of Pakistan’s account. The inflows helped in building the country’s foreign exchange reserves, which earlier were depleting. The major financing $3 billion came from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The IMF disbursed $1.2 billion.
The government had budgeted $17.619 billion from multiple financing sources for the current fiscal year including $17.384 billion loans and $234.60 million grants. The government received only 46.31 percent in the period from July to December in the current financial year. According to the latest data, the country has received $508 million as CATIC (PAF), $2.245 billion from multilateral, $723 million from bilateral, $491.5 million from Naya Pakistan Certificate and $2 billion as time deposit loan in the first six months of this fiscal year.
In multilateral sources, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has disbursed $589.4 million, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) $287.04 million, $1.04 billion from IDA of the World Bank and $100 million as IsDB (Short-term). In bilateral sources, Pakistan has received $595 million from Saudi Arabia as oil facilities, $25.09 million from the United States, $10.98 million from Korea and $20.15 million from France.
Following the staff level agreement with the IMF in November last year, the international financial institutions had started releasing pending inflows for Pakistan. The World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank had recently announced loans for Pakistan. The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $13.2 billion. The break-up of the foreign reserves position showed that foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan are $8.2 billion and foreign reserves held by commercial banks are $4.9 billion. In a significant development, United Arab Emirates (UAE) has confirmed a rollover of total $2 billion with State Bank of Pakistan for another one year and the SBP has received $705 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The inflow from the IMF would build the country’s foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan is expecting to receive more inflows from international financial institutions in the next couple of months. The country is expecting further $1.2 billion from the IMF and $1.5-4.5 billion from various international financial institutions like Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB) & AIIB within the current fiscal year. Talks with some other commercial entities were also at an advanced stage to materialize $3.5 billion projected commercial inflows.
