Pakistan secures $5.688 bn external loans

ISLAMABAD: While officially confirming to have received $1 billion from China as safe deposits after paying back to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan has received a total $5.688 billion external loans during the first six months (July-Dec) of the current fiscal year 2020-21.

However, this time Islamabad managed lesser amount of $5.915 billion than the same period of the last fiscal. It indicates that Pakistan received $227 million less in the first six months of the current fiscal compared to the same period of the last financial year.

According to official figures of the Economic Affairs Division (EAD), during July-December of fiscal year 2020-21, the government received $5,688 million total external inflows from multiple financing sources, which are 46 percent of annual budget estimates of $12,233 million for the entire fiscal year 2020-21. In the corresponding period of the fiscal year 2019-20, the external inflows were $5,915 million which were also around (46 pc) of the annual budgeted amount of $12,958 million.

The total receipt of $5,688 million constitutes $1,634 million or 29pc as program, budgetary support assistance to restructure Pakistan’s economy; $2,054 million (36pc) as foreign commercial borrowing to repay maturing foreign commercial loans and $754 million (13pc) as project assistance to finance development projects activities for improving the socio-economic development of the country and for asset creation, $246 million (13pc) as commodity financing while $1,000 million (18pc) received as safe deposits from China.

Disbursement from multilateral and bilateral development partners also maintained a strong trend and stands at $2,633 million during the review period against the budgetary allocation of $5,811 million for fiscal 2020-21 on concessional terms with longer maturity. These healthy inflows have helped improve foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate stability.

Amongst the multilateral development partners, mainly the Asian Development Bank provided $1,120 million, World Bank disbursed $744 million against the budgetary allocation of $2,257 million. The bilateral sources, France, USA and China, provided $34.3 million, $70.5 million & $95.4 million res