Cash-Strapped Pakistan sees a ray of hope as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) approved the rollover of USD 1.3 billion facilities.
Taking to Twitter, Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced, “Formalities completed [and] Chinese Bank, ICBC approved rollover of USD 1.3 billion facilities which has been repaid by Pakistan to ICBC in recent months.”
According to the reports, the facility will be made available to Pakistan in three timely instalments, the first of which amounting to $500 million has already been received by the Central Bank of Pakistan. Pakistan had already repaid the loan taken from ICBC in recent months, and now the Chinese bank is returning the money to Pakistan, rolling over the loan for a further period.
Talking about the fast-depleting reserves, Dar said there were USD 3.82 billion with the State Bank of Pakistan and combined with amounts held by commercial banks, the net national reserves were around USD 9.26 billion.
China has previously loaned Pakistan $700 million to assist strengthen its foreign exchange reserves before the finalisation of talks with the IMF for financial assistance.
The foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan stood at $3.8 billion as of February 24, which was just enough for less than a month of imports. The liquid foreign exchange reserves were around $9 billion which includes $5.5 billion in net reserves held by commercial banks, as per a report by local news outlet.