CHINA and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have always demonstrated open heartedness towards Pakistan.
In every difficult situation, they have been forthcoming to extend help – something which the people of this country will never forget.
Talking to reporters, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar shared the good news that both the countries have now given fresh assurances to Pakistan for providing a financial package of about thirteen billion dollars, including the rollover of sovereign loan deposits, additional rollovers, commercial loans, additional SWAPS and jacking up oil facility on deferred payment in line with the IMF agreement.
Out of the total financial package, China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will provide $8.8 billion and $4.2 billion additional amounts respectively for the current fiscal year 2022-23.
At present, Pakistan is faced with multiple challenges which have been compounded by the recent unprecedented devastating floods.
Hence, if both the financial packages materialize, then it will give a breathing space to the struggling economy of Pakistan whose foreign currency reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan stand at $8.9 billion at the moment.
We believe the recent visits of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to both the friendly countries remained very productive and fruitful in the context that some important projects were also discussed for investment in Pakistan.
For instance, the Saudi side has shown the willingness to invest in the ten to twelve billion dollars oil refinery whilst the Chinese side has evinced the interest in ML-1 upgradation and Karachi Circular Railway.
If these projects go ahead in a timely manner, these will accrue immense benefit for our economy and help also realizing the dream of making Pakistan regional hub of trade and economic activities.
Both the countries have always given importance to their relationship with Pakistan and time has really come to transform this into a robust economic partnership which will bring the peoples of these countries closer to each other.
For this, we need to enhance the level of engagement both with China and KSA at different levels in order to explore new avenues of cooperation.
As a country we also need to set our direction right in order to stand on our own feet.The question is for how long we will continue to look at others for assistance.
