China rolls over $2bn deposits to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: China has granted rollover of $2 billion SAFE (State Administration of Foreign Exchange) deposits for one year. “Yes,” Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar confirmed with a brief response when asked about getting rollover of $2 billion SAFE deposits here on Thursday.

It was one of the requirements of the IMF for getting the rollover of Chinese SAFE deposits for meeting external financing needs in order to move towards striking the much-awaited staff-level agreement.

There are nine tables under the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) that require to be filled.

One of the tables is related to the Net International Reserves (NIR) as an indicative target, which cannot be fulfilled without incorporating the external financing needs of the programme period till the end of June 2023.