Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday that China has rolled over a $2.4 billion loan to Islamabad for a period of two years, a boost to the country’s economy as it tries to build its foreign reserves after clinching a deal with the International Monetary Fund.
“Chinese Exim bank rolled over principal amount totalling $2.4b which are due in [the] next two fiscal years,” he said in a post on social platform X, formerly Twitter.
“Pakistan will make interest payments only over the next two years,” Dar said, meaning the waiver is only for the principal loan amount.
“In principle, China and Pakistan have close cooperation in economic and financial sectors, and we will continue to advance cooperation with Pakistan to support the country in achieving stability and development,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.
The development comes a little over a week after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that China had rolled over a $600 million loan to Pakistan, helping shore up the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
