Pakistani officials told Anadolu Agency on Saturday that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have promised to give Pakistan up to $5 billion to help ease the pressure on its weak foreign reserves before payments are due in June.
The help that has been reported comes at a time when Pakistan’s economy is under a lot of stress and its reserves are getting weaker while its need for external financing is growing.
On Friday, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. They talked mostly about working together on economic issues and developments in the region. Officials said that talks about financial support had been going on between the two sides before the signing of a formal agreement.
The visit comes at a time when tensions are high in West Asia, especially because of the uncertainty surrounding US-Iran relations, which have put more pressure on already strained external accounts.
Anadolu Agency says that Pakistan has also asked for more help, such as an extension of its oil financing facility and an increase in its current cash deposits, which will end later this month.
As Pakistan gets ready to pay back about $3.5 billion to the United Arab Emirates by the end of April, this money will help.
Officials said that if Pakistan doesn’t get any new money or make new rollover deals, its foreign exchange reserves could drop even more, making it harder to get cash and raising worries about external stability.
Pakistani senator Mushahid Hussain recently made news when he called the United Arab Emirates “bechara” and “majboor” on television and talked about how Islamabad was paying back old loans.
