Pakistan may receive first tranche of Saudi aid today: Asad

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance, Revenues, and Economic Affairs Asad Umar said on Sunday that the country is likely to receive the first tranche of aid worth 1 billion US dollars from Saudi Arabia on Monday.

Talking to local media in Islamabad, Asad Umar said that the second and the third tranche of the Saudi money are expected to reach Pakistan over the course of the next two months. Pakistan, which is facing a sever balance of payment crisis due to rising imports bill and shrinking exports, has reached out to different friendly countries in the last few months to receive some kind of bailout to keep its foreign exchange reserves in a healthy position.

The depleting foreign exchange reserves have put tremendous pressure on the Pakistani rupees, which has plummeted by over 25 percent against US dollar since December 2017. Asad Umar said that his Saudi counterpart has given him the assurance of sending the first tranche of 1 billion US dollars on Monday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and his economic team managed to clinch a financial package worth 6 billion US dollars from Saudi Arabia last month, which included 3 billion US dollars for the balance of payment support and another 3 billion US dollars for import of oil on deferred payments.

The finance minister said that the import of oil on deferred payments would start maturing from the next month, reiterating that the immediate balance of payment crisis was averted successfully after finance assistance from Saudi Arabia and other friendly countries.

When asked about the primary reason behind going for a yet another bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Asad Umar said that the Pakistani government wants to expedite the pace of economic growth and an IMF financial package will help it in this regard.