Pakistan is due to receive $300 million from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) on Friday, the final of three installments, according to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The institution has previously given Pakistan $1 billion.
“Out of a $1.3 billion ICBC-approved facility from a Chinese bank (previously repaid by Pakistan).” “The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will receive the third and final disbursement of $300 million today in its account,” Dar stated on Twitter.
This will “shore up the forex reserves of Pakistan,” he added.
The ICBC granted Pakistan the first $500 million tranche of the $1.3 billion on March 4, and the second $500 million tranche arrived two weeks later on March 18.
The latest development comes on the same day that Dar stated that the UAE has confirmed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will pay $1 billion in assistance to Pakistan.
The UAE’s commitment was one of the conditions set by the IMF in order to proceed with a months-long delayed bailout plan to prop up the country’s faltering economy.
Meanwhile, according to a finance ministry official, Saudi Arabia told the IMF last week that it will contribute $2 billion in funding to Pakistan.
Months of political and economic turmoil, exacerbated by severe floods last year and unprecedented inflation, have pushed Pakistan into the ranks of debtor countries.
Negotiations with the IMF over a delayed $1.1 billion loan tranche, part of the 2019 bailout, have gone on for months, and the country’s foreign exchange reserves have plummeted to fewer than four weeks of imports.
China has rolled over $2bn loan, Dar tells Senate
Last month, China extended a $2 billion loan, easing Pakistan’s critical balance of payments problem.
