Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday sought $4.2 billion from Saudi Arabia after the foreign exchange reserves fell critically low.
Ishaq Dar, the federal finance minister, requested Saudi Arabia to provide Pakistan with a $4.2 billion package urgently.
According to sources, the government will buy oil and fertilizer worth $1.2 billion on loan from Saudi Arabia.
The request has been forwarded to his excellency crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman.
For the first time since January 2019, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen to $6.7 billion, which, according to further sources, is inadequate to cover the $8.8 billion principal and interest payments due throughout the current fiscal year.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia extended the term for a $3 billion deposit it had made to Pakistan’s central bank, announced SBP.
The central bank said that the extension of the term of the deposit “is a continuation of the support provided by the government of Saudi Arabia to the Government of Pakistan.”
According to sources, Pakistan is looking to control one of Asia’s highest inflation rates and avoid a current-account crisis.