After all legal processes have been completed, Saudi Arabia will send $3 billion to Pakistan this week.
Fawad Chaudhry, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, revealed on Thursday that all legal formalities for a $3 billion payment from Saudi Arabia had been finalised, and that the money will be transferred this week.
Saudi Arabia has
also permitted direct flights from Pakistan, according to the information
minister, who made the news on Twitter.
Riyadh pledged
to restart its financial support to Islamabad during Prime Minister Imran
Khan's visit earlier in October, including around $3 billion in safe deposits
and $1.2 billion in oil deliveries on deferred payments.
This Saudi
facility, in the form of $3 billion deposits, would assist the State Bank of
Pakistan (SBP) shore up the country's declining foreign exchange reserves at a
time when they were on the decrease.
"The SBP
has finalised all arrangements, and everything is now in place," senior
official sources told The News. "The amount of the agreed deposit will be
received within the next few of days."
After all legal
processes have been completed, Saudi Arabia will send $3 billion to Pakistan
this week.
This deposit
amount will be subject to a 3.2 to 3.5 percent yearly markup in Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan's
foreign reserves will be bolstered by cash deposits. The deposit will be
subject to a 3.2-3.5 percent yearly markup in Saudi Arabia.
The SBP's
reserves fell by $691 million to $16.254 billion in the week ending November
19, 2021, mostly to foreign debt repayments.
Pakistan's total
liquid foreign reserves were $22.773 billion on November 19, 2021, according to
the central bank. Foreign reserves held by the SBP were $16.254 billion, while
net foreign reserves held by commercial banks were $6.519 billion, according to
the breakdown of the statistics.
Saudi Arabia has
committed to give $1.2 billion for the provision of refined POL products,
according to official sources, and the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) is
negotiating on behalf of the Pakistani government.
In response to
questions, Muzammil Aslam, the spokesperson for the Adviser to the Prime
Minister on Finance, claimed Pakistan was expected to get $7 billion from only
three sources over the next 60 days.
Saudi Arabia's
$3 billion deposits, the Saudi Oil Facility's $1.2 billion on deferred
payments, the Islamic Development Bank's $800 million oil facility, the Sukuk
bond's $1 billion, and the IMF's $1 billion are among them.
He stated that
all of these dollar inflows would be sufficient to relieve pressure on existing
import bills.