Pakistan has borrowed 21 times from IMF since Dec 8, 1958

LAHORE: As Pakistani Premier, Imran Khan, finally succeeds in securing a $3 billion loan from Saudi Arabia and a matching amount of one-year deferred payment facility for the import of oil for his country’s cash-strapped economy, which is still languishing on the brink of a full-blown balance of payments crisis, policy makers in Islamabad might not have to knock on the doors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which had first lent US 25,000 to its old client as a Standby Arrangement on December 8, 1958, research conducted by the "Jang Group and Geo Television Network" shows.

Till date, the IMF has lent money to Pakistan 21 times during the last 60 years, which currently needs about $28 billion for the current fiscal year to meet its financial needs. The second time Pakistan had reached out to the IMF for financial assistance was on March 16, 1965, when US$ 37,500 were dished out by this 72-year old international organization headquartered in Washington DC. On October17, 1968, Pakistan had received US$ 75,000 from the 189-member IMF, on May 18, 1972, Pakistan had drawn a loan of US$84,000, another $ 75,000 on August 11, 1973, $75,000 more on November 11, 1974, a Standby Arrangement of $ 80,000 was given on Mar 09, 1977, an Extended Fund Facility of $349,000 had reached Islamabad on November 24, 1980, some $730,000 had flown in on December 02, 1981, $194,480 were drawn from IMF accounts on December 28, 1988, another $382,410 came in shape of Structural Adjustment Facility Commitment on December 28, 1988, a Standby Arrangement of $88,000 had landed in Pakistani coffers on September 16, 1993, an amount of $123,200 had landed on February 22, 1994 under the head of an Extended Fund Facility, $172,200 were again borrowed by Pakistan on February 22, 1994, an amount of $294,690 had followed on December 13, 1995, two amounts of $ 265,370 and $113,740 had reached Pakistan on October 20, 1997, $465,000 was drawn on November 29, 2000, an amount of $861,420 had come on December 06, 2001, the largest-ever IMF Standby Arrangement of $7,235,900 was agreed between the debtor and creditor, but an amount of $4,936,035 had actually flown in on November 24, 2008 and then an Extended Fund Facility to the tune of $4,320,000 had rescued Pakistan on September 04, 2013.

Pak-Saudi relationship: As far as Pak-Saudi relationship is concerned, by July 2018, the Pakistani expatriates working in Saudi Arabia had sent home $4.858 billion during 2017-18, down 11.17 percent year-over-year, State Bank of Pakistan data had shown. Overall, the inbound remittances to Pakistan had marginally soared by 1.4 percent to $19.622 billion during the last fiscal year of 2017/18. The Pakistani Central Bank’s data showed that the country's manpower exports to Saudi Arabia had tumbled to 143,000 in 2017 from 522,700 in 2015.

The number of Pakistani labourers recruited by Saudi Arabian employers had dropped by 11 per cent to 460,000 in 2016 despite the fact that the kingdom had remained the busiest corridor for Pakistani migrants higher than in any year since 2005.