According to media reports, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s first visit to Saudi Arabia was successful, as it helped secure a ‘sizeable package’ of approximately $8 billion from the kingdom. This comes at a time when Pakistan is facing a financial crisis. It has also been in a lot of debt for quite some time.
To keep afloat, the country’s successive administrations have borrowed loans from a variety of organizations and nations. According to a story published in The News, Saudi Arabia has agreed to quadruple the oil finance facility, provide extra funds through deposits or Sukuks, and roll over the current $4.2 billion facilities as part of the package.
It will help to revive the struggling economy, but how long will it last? “However, technical details are still being worked out, and it will take a couple of weeks to have all paperwork ready and signed,” the article claimed, citing high government sources acquainted with the situation. Saudi Arabia agreed to Pakistan’s proposal to increase the oil facility’s capacity from $1.2 billion to $2.4 billion. It was also decided to roll over current deposits totaling $3 billion for an extended-term ending in June 2023.
‘Pakistan and Saudi Arabia discussed a further package of over $2 billion, either through deposits or Sukuk, and it is possible that even more money would be handed to Islamabad. The size of the whole package will be established when the additional funds are finalised’, the report stated. The Prime Minister and his formal entourage have left Saudi Arabia. Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, on the other hand, has stayed behind to finalise the financial package’s details.
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