Islamabad: Pakistan has apprised the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about the request it made to China for a rollover of $2 billion deposits for another one year.
According to an exclusive report published in The News, Pakistan has already requested China to rollover $2 billion SAFE (State Administration of Foreign Exchange) deposits, which are going to mature by end of the ongoing month.
The report quoted a top official saying that China has granted assurances verbally for rolling over the SAFE deposits of $2 billion, but it would be preferred that it should be done by Beijing and then announce accordingly in the coming weeks.
In a major boost to the forex reserves of Pakistan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar last week announced that Pakistan had received $500 million from the Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
Taking to Twitter, the financial czar had said that the Chinese bank had agreed to rollover the $1.3 billion facility, which was paid by the cash-strapped South Asian country in recent months.
The facility will be disbursed in three instalments. The first one of $500 million has been received by the State Bank of Pakistan, Dar had said in a tweet.
Cash-strapped Pakistan receives $500 million from Chinese bank
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the country’s forex reserves shot up by $555.6 million towards the end of last month as China came to the rescue of its all-weather friend in the most needed time with a crucial refinancing.
According to data shared by the State Bank of Pakistan, during the week that ended on February 24, 2023, the SBP-held forex reserves shot up sharply by $555.6 million to reach $3.814 billion.
However, those held by commercial banks dropped marginally by $15 million to clock in at $5.453 billion.
During the period under review, the SBP received $700 million as the government of Pakistan commercial loan disbursement from China. However, after accounting for external debt repayments, the SBP reserves increased by $555.6 million.
