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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will start receiving Saudi oil on deferred payment facility from July 1, a press statement from the Saudi embassy in Islamabad confirmed late Monday.
“Pakistan will start receiving monthly oil supplies worth $275 million from ��������Ƶ with effect of July 1, 2019,” the embassy said in a statement.
These supplies will continue over the next three years, with a total value of $9.9 billion, the statement added.
In October 2018, ��������Ƶ announced a $20 billion economic support package for Pakistan, which included $3 billion to support balance of external payments in addition to oil import facility on deferred payment. 
Saudi embassy said that the package showed “keenness of Saudi leadership to support Pakistan’s economy for achieving financial stability and help the government to overcome the economic challenges and push the comprehensive development in Pakistan, and to emphasize the depth of relations between the two brotherly counties and people.”
Dr. Vaqar Ahmed Joint Executive Director at Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), an Islamabad based think-tank, said that “this will bring significant relief to the balance of payment situation in Pakistan,” which is already struggling to narrow down the current account gap. “Any arrangement which can allow Pakistan deferred payment of its oil supplies will certainly be welcomed.”
“This will also provide certainty to the industry which of course requires sustained oil supplies as input and raw material,” Ahmed added calling the move “a great help for Pakistan in pressing times.”
According to official figures, Pakistan spends more than $16 billion each year on importing 26 million tons of petroleum products, including 800 million cubic feet of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from ��������Ƶ, the UAE and other Gulf countries.
Pakistan and ��������Ƶ enjoy deep-rooted economic ties. During the visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Pakistan in February 2019, the Kingdom signed several agreement and memoranda of understandings (MoUs) pledging to invest $20bn in Pakistan to boost its depleting foreign exchange reserves — including establishing a $10bn oil refinery in the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan province.