https://arab.news/gksxh
- $4.2 billion Saudi package, including $1.2 billion oil facility, was agreed during PM Khan鈥檚 visit to Riyadh last October
- Pakistan is facing a wide range of economic challenges, including high inflation, sliding forex reserves and a depreciating currency
ISLAMABAD: Finance minister Shaukat Tarin informed Pakistan鈥檚 Senate on Friday the country would start using from next month a $1.2 billion Saudi facility allowing Islamabad to defer payments for oil imports.
A $4.2 billion Saudi support package, which included a $1.2 billion oil loan facility, was agreed during Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Riyadh in October last year. In December, Pakistan received the $3 billion loan but the oil facility is yet to be put into use.
The South Asian nation is facing a wide range of economic challenges, with high inflation, sliding forex reserves, a widening current account deficit and a depreciating currency.
鈥淲e went to 抖阴短视频 and told [its government] that oil prices are rising so give us [oil] on deferred payments,鈥� the finance minister said. 鈥淲e have not used the deferred payment facility until now. We will use it from next month.鈥�
Tarin said Pakistan had been using its own reserves at the moment.
Saudi Ambassador to Islamabad Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki met Pakistan鈥檚 federal minister for economic affairs, Omar Ayub Khan, last week to discuss the facility. The two had agreed to operationalize the oil facility at the 鈥渆arliest.鈥�
The financing agreement for the oil facility was signed last November between the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and the Pakistani Economic Affairs Division.
鈥淎s per Financing Agreement, the SFD will extend the financing facility up to $100 million per month for one-year for purchase of petroleum products on deferred payment basis,鈥� a statement from Pakistan鈥檚 Ministry of Economic Affairs had read.