Lahore - A spokesperson from the State Bank of Bank (SBP) confirmed on Monday that Pakistan had received $1 billion from Saudi Arabia as part of the $3billion pledged by the kingdom to Islamabad as balance of payment support.
The spokesperson added that the remaining $2 billion was expected to arrive in Pakistan in the next few days, reported Geo News.
The funds from Saudi Arabia will be reflective on November 29 when SBP releases its weekly figures for foreign exchange reserves.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office last month said Saudi Arabia had agreed to deposit $3 billion for a period of one year as balance of payment support. A one-year deferred payment facility for import of oil, up to $3 billion would also be provided with this arrangement being in place for three years.
The development came after Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Riyadh where he attended the Future Investment Initiative conference and met with King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
Federal Minister for Finance, Revenues, and Economic Affairs Asad Umar had said on Sunday that the country is likely to receive the first tranche of aid worth 1 billion US dollars from Saudi Arabia on Monday.
Talking to local media in Islamabad, Asad Umar said that the second and the third tranche of the Saudi money are expected to reach Pakistan over the course of the next two months.
Pakistan, which is facing a sever balance of payment crisis due to rising imports bill and shrinking exports, has reached out to different friendly countries in the last few months to receive some kind of bailout to keep its foreign exchange reserves in a healthy position.
The depleting foreign exchange reserves have put tremendous pressure on the Pakistani rupees, which has plummeted by over 25 percent against US dollar since Dec. 2017.
The crisis has eased with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s managing to clinch the Saudi financial package.
The Pakistani finance minister informed that the import of oil from KSA on deferred payments would start maturing from the next month, reiterating that the immediate balance of payment crisis was averted successfully after finance assistance from Saudi Arabia and other friendly countries.
When asked about the primary reason behind going for a yet another bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Asad Umar said that the Pakistani government wants to expedite the pace of economic growth and an IMF financial package will help it in this regard.
