China rolls over additional $600M loan for Pakistan
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said China had rolled over another loan of $600 million, resulting in further increase in Pakistan’s foreign reserves. Addressing the launching ceremony of the Prime Minister’s Youth Sports Initiative, Shehbaz said the Exim Bank of China a day earlier rolled over $600m to Pakistan, adding that assistance from friendly countries was improving economic indicators in the country. Last week, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had transferred an amount of $1.2 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan as a first tranche under the stand-by agreement, which was approved its executive board. In a televised statement, Dar said the remaining $1.8 would be released after two reviews, meaning that there would be two instalments.
China has rolled over a $600 million loan to Pakistan, helping shore up the South Asian country’s foreign exchange reserves on the back of an IMF deal, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday.
This was in addition to over $5 billion in loans that longtime ally China has rolled over for Pakistan in the last three months, Sharif said last week, helping Pakistan avert a default as negotiations to secure the IMF bailout dragged on.
Pakistan secured a last-gasp $3 billion IMF bailout on June 30, which later disbursed an initial upfront instalment of about $1.2 billion.
A further $3 billion of financial support from Saudi and the UAE after the IMF pact has helped steady the Pakistani economy, according to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
Pakistan’s central bank said on Tuesday the current account recorded a surplus of $334 million in June.
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