Finance Minister Asad Umar has said that Pakistan is going to receive $4.1 billion in financial assistance from friendly countries next week.
He said this at an event organised on Saturday by the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) in Karachi.
The finance minister said that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would soon deposit $2 billion into the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) foreign currency reserves while $2.1 billion would come from China. He further revealed that the UAE is providing the loan at an interest rate of 3 per cent while the Chinese have offered an interest rate of 2.5 per cent.
With the receipt of the soft loans, SBP reserves would surge to around $12 billion and total reserves, including ones available at commercial banks, would stand at approximately $19 billion by the end of next week.
In December 2018, the UAE had announced a $6 billion friendly assistance package for Pakistan, including $3 billion in cash deposits in SBP’s reserves and a credit line of another $3 billion for the supply of petroleum oil on deferred payment.
Abu Dhabi released the first tranche of $1 billion in January 2019.
In July last year, China deposited $2 billion with the SBP and cemented its place as Pakistan’s single largest saviour in times of economic crisis over the past five years.
