Islamabad: Chinese bank ICBC has approved a financing facility of one billion thirty million dollars for Pakistan, of which the first installment of fifty million dollars has been received by State Bank.
Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said in his message on the social media platform Twitter that the Chinese Bank ICBC has approved the rollover of one billion thirty million dollar financing for Pakistan after all the operations are completed.
Formalities completed & Chinese Bank, ICBC approved rollover of US$1.3 billion facility which has been repaid by Pakistan to ICBC in recent months. Facility will be disbursed in 3 installments, first one of US$500 million has been received by SBP. It will increase forex reserves!
— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) March 3, 2023
He said that Pakistan will get this amount from the Chinese bank in three installments. State Bank has received the first installment of 50 million dollars, after receiving 50 million dollars, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have increased.
Earlier in a press conference on Friday, the finance minister said that financing is very important for the country’s economy as we are facing a balance of payment crisis, with the State Bank having foreign reserves of barely three weeks worth of imports.
He had said that Pakistan has already received a loan of $700 million from the China Development Bank to help boost its foreign exchange reserves. He said that Pakistan would need $5 billion in external financing to close the fiscal gap by June of the current fiscal year. For which we are striving and will achieve success.
Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan will get external financing only after the IMF program, which is possible by next week.
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