Pakistan receives $2bn from Saudi Arabia: State Bank

The State Bank of Pakistan confirmed on Thursday that Pakistan has received $2 billion the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The development comes as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is in Saudi Arabia to push diplomatic efforts to promote peace in the Middle East.

A day earlier, the kingdom pledged an additional $3 billion in deposits for Pakistan and extended its existing $5bn facility for a further three years.

Pakistan will reportedly return a $3.5bn loan to the UAE this month, putting pressure on its reserves and risking breaches of its International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme targets.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb added that the existing $5bn Saudi deposit would no longer be subject to the previous annual rollover arrangement and would instead be extended for a longer term.

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