ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Foreign Exchange Reserves have hit highest level oflast five months.
The State Bank received $1 billion from Saudi Arabia on Friday, the lastinstallment of the aid package Riyadh had announced last October.
This comes a day after the UAE transferred its first installment, $1billion, of the $3 billion it had pledged in support for Pakistan’sdepleting foreign exchange reserves. Following these transfers, the centralbank’s reserves have jumped to a five-month high of $8.8 billion.
Pakistan’s falling foreign exchange reserves was one of the biggestchallenges for Imran Khan’s government since it took charge in August lastyear.
The country hardly had enough dollars to pay for two months of imports andcomply with its foreign loan obligations. A large trade gap, where importswere twice as much of our exports, only added to the problem.
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Last year, the Prime Minister visited friendly countries to secure aidpackages and succeeded in his visit to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, both ofwhom pledged $3 billion each. The Saudi government also extended an oilcredit of $3 billion per year for three years.
According to some reports, the Chinese have agreed to provide at least $1billion to help Islamabad shore up its foreign exchange reserves to asustainable level and avoid default on payments.
