ISLAMABAD – The country of over 220 million has been struggling with a balance of payments crisis, and gallops towards debt default amid the worst economic meltdown in recent memory.
Amid growing economic woes, a breath of fresh air came from Pakistan’s all-weather friend China as the crisis-hit nation is expected to seek debt relief from a Chinese commercial bank.
Well-informed sources told Pakistan Observer, that Pakistan is set to get a lifeline of $500 million from China’s ICBC bank, a noted commercial bank in the People’s Republic of China, which will provide a much-needed boost to the country’s foreign exchange reserves and bolster country’s economic projections.
Amid the current extremely fragile balance of payments situation, these funds from the friendly nation will certainly help beleaguered Pakistan which faces political and economic crises.
China pledged another $500 million, weeks after injecting $700 million to help shore up Islamabad’s foreign exchange reserves. The credit facility helped Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves as the South Asian nation is struggling to secure a deal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In a recent development, Pakistan needs help from its friendly nations amid a higher risk for a debt default as negotiations with global lender continued to remain in the air while forex reserves dwindles to precarious levels.
Let it be known that Islamabad and Beijing enjoy historic bilateral ties; the two sides have always stood together and have always extended solidarity and support to each other in hard times.
