Saudi Arabia will help Pakistan’s finances, according to Finance MinisterMohammed Al Jadaan, as it looks to help shore up alliances with countriesstruggling with the impact of rising inflation.
The Saudi government will “continue to support Pakistan as much as we can,”Al Jadaan said at a press conference in Riyadh.
The kingdom has taken several steps to provide financial support tocountries in the region as it looks to bolster allies and cement newrelationships. It extended the term of a $3 billion deposit to boostforeign currency reserves and help Pakistan in overcoming economicrepercussions of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this month.
Saudi Arabia is also looking to do more investments in Egypt and isplanning to start doing deals in Turkey, Al Jadaan said at a newsconference in Riyadh.
“Our relationship with Turkey is improving greatly, and we hope to haveinvestment opportunities,” he said. “We have started investing aggressivelyin Egypt and we will continue to look at investment opportunities and thatis more important than deposits. Deposits can be pulled but investmentsstay.”
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Saudi Arabia is in the final stages of agreeing to deposit $5 billion atTurkey’s central bank, the finance ministry said last month, a major boostfor President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bid to keep the lira stable ahead ofpresidential elections next year. Once concluded, the agreement would crowna recent rapprochement that ended years of hostility between the Turkishand Saudi governments.
It also extended the maturity of a $5 billion deposit with Egypt’s centralbank last month, and the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund is also lookinginto $10 billion of potential investments in Egypt’s health-care,education, agriculture and financial sectors, according to an Egyptiancabinet statement.