Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has returned $1 billion to Saudi Arabia as the second instalment of a $3 billion soft loan.
According to sources, the first instalment of $1 billion was returned to Saudi Arabia last month and this is the second instalment and third and final instalment would be paid next month.
Pakistan returned the instalment of the Saudi loan after getting a commercial loan from China, sources said. After repayment of the second instalment, the country’s foreign exchange reserves stand at $13.3 billion.In October 2018, Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide US$ 6.2 billion worth of financial package to Pakistan for three years. This included US$ three billion in cash assistance to address Pakistan’s balance of payment issue and US dollar 3.2 billion worth of oil on deferred payments.
Pakistan has already paid back US$ one billion to Saudi Arabia in May this year out of the three billion dollars financing. Earlier, Pakistan will repay US$ two billion loan to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as per the repayment schedule.
According to the sources, Pakistan is set to return one billion dollars to Saudi Arabia in current month, while the remaining $1 billion would likely be paid in the next year.
Pakistan has arranged loans from alternate sources, for repayment of Saudi loans, sources in the knowledge of the matter, said.
Pakistan will borrow $1.5 billion from China, while the country will issue euro bonds within next few weeks, which will likely to generate around 700 million US dollars, sources further said.
In October 2018, Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide US$ 6.2 billion worth of financial package to Pakistan for three years. This included US$ three billion in cash assistance to address Pakistan’s balance of payment issue and US dollar 3.2 billion worth of oil on deferred payments.
Pakistan has already paid back US$ one billion to Saudi Arabia in May this year out of the three billion dollars financing.
