Saudi $3 billion deposit rollover remains unconfirmed as finance minister says matter is “all good”

The rollover of Saudi Arabia’s $3 billion cash deposit remains unconfirmed after Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said the matter was “all good” but did not state that the facility, which expired earlier this week, had been formally extended, The Express Tribune reported. 

“We are all good on that,” Aurangzeb told reporters on Thursday, speaking after attending a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance. The brief comment was his first public statement on the matter following a visit to Saudi Arabia last weekend with Power Minister Sardar Awais Leghari for talks on bilateral economic and financial issues.

The Kingdom had extended the $3 billion deposit in April for three months to help Pakistan meet a debt payment to the United Arab Emirates.

Neither the Ministry of Finance nor the State Bank of Pakistan has formally confirmed the rollover. 

Under Pakistan’s $7 billion IMF programme, Saudi Arabia, China and the UAE had committed to maintaining combined cash deposits of $12.5 billion with the SBP until the programme expires in September next year.

The UAE later withdrew part of its support, with Saudi Arabia filling the gap and increasing its total exposure to $8 billion.

According to the Tribune’s report, Pakistan is also considering options to lengthen the maturity of its short-term external debt and stagger upcoming repayments linked to Chinese energy projects established under the CPEC. 

The government has separately asked Saudi Arabia for a $6.7 billion oil facility on deferred payment terms over 15 years to support energy security amid renewed conflict in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia has already extended the repayment period of another cash deposit. Pakistan’s gross official foreign exchange reserves currently stand at $18.5 billion, equivalent to around three months of import cover.