Pakistan secures $3.2 billion pledges

Pakistan has achieved another success by securing pledges of foreign loans of $3.2 billion, including $1.2 billion from Saudi Oil Facility (SOf), sources said on Tuesday.

The borrowing aims to bring foreign exchange reserves to $19.274 billion in the fiscal year 2025.

Sources said that the country secured $3.2 billion pledges, including $1.2 billion from the Kingdom’s oil, a $1 billion loan from Dubai Islamic Bank, $600 million from SCB, and $430 million from the Islamic Development Bank under the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) facility.

The plan of borrowing by the Ministry of Finance did not include the International Monetary Fund (IMF) financial assistance in the external inflow of $19.2 billion.

According to the plan, Pakistan targeted to secure $4.56 billion from multilateral creditors, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Bank, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The country is estimated to receive $9.4 billion from bilateral partners, including $3.779 billion from commercial banks, $1 billion in international bonds, and a $0.5 billion Naya Pakistan Certificate.

However, the deal has not been finalised with the Kingdom so far, as sources said the finance secretary visited Saudi Arabia, but nothing has been signed yet. 

The authorities might discuss it from several aspects, including terms for the Oil facility and Reko Diq.