Saudi Arabia has extended the repayment period for Pakistan’s additional $3bn deposit, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb confirmed on Wednesday, giving Islamabad further breathing room on its external payments.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament House in Islamabad, after a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Aurangzeb said the facility had been rolled over for a reasonable period. He declined to give an exact new maturity date, and the precise duration has not been disclosed publicly.
The additional deposit was agreed in April this year and matured on October 31 under its original three-month term. Dawn reported that it had been arranged to bridge a gap created by $3.5bn in repayments to the United Arab Emirates, and that Aurangzeb discussed the matter with his Saudi counterpart, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, during recent World Bank-IMF meetings in Bangkok.
Aurangzeb told reporters that Pakistan does not require any further financial assistance from Riyadh at present. He said the country’s foreign exchange reserves cover around three months of imports, and that the government and the central bank aim to raise that cover to four months by the end of this fiscal year.
The rollover sits alongside a separate, larger Saudi facility. Saudi Arabia has already extended the repayment of $5bn of its deposits until 2028, leaving the $3bn additional deposit as the short-term element that has now been renewed.
The finance minister also addressed a proposed $10bn liquidity support facility from the United States, saying Pakistan could meet its external financing needs even without it. Reports on Wednesday described the prospects for that facility as having faded, although Aurangzeb said it would still provide additional support if it were secured.
Looking ahead, Aurangzeb said the International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board is expected to review Pakistan’s $7bn programme in December. No specific date for that review has been announced, and the rollover itself does not change the terms of the IMF programme.
