Pakistan on Friday received $1 billion (Rs 7,259 crore) from Saudi Arabia, a day after the United Arab Emirates deposited one billion dollars to State Bank of Pakistan’s Account. The financial support package from Saudi Arabia is the third installment to help Pakistan tide over its balance-of-payout crisis.
The UAE installment is the first of three in a $3 billion (Rs 21,777 crore) financial assistance package aimed supporting Islamabad’s “financial and monetary policy”.
In October 2018, Saudi Arabia had announced a $6 billion (Rs 43,554 crore) bailout package for Pakistan comprising $3 billion in foreign currency support and another $3 billion in deferred payments on oil imports to help the country, Dawn reported.
Since Imran Khan took over as prime minister, Islamabad’s administration has been trying to streamline its finances to repay its debts. Pakistan’s current-account deficit increased to a staggering $19 billion in the financial year that ended in June 2018, Bloomberg reported.
On Wednesday, Pakistani Finance Minister Asad Umar said the government may get an International Monetary Fund-led programme bilateral assistance, Dawn reported. He made the statement while presenting a mini-budget in the parliament.
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