DOHA – Qatar said Wednesday (Aug 24) it would invest US$3 billion (S$4.2billion) in Pakistan’s debt-ridden economy in the latest boost by a Gulfstate for the ailing South Asian nation.

Pakistan has been scrambling for finance in recent months, and theInternational Monetary Fund is due to meet next Monday to discuss revivinga suspended US$6 billion loan programme.

The United Arab Emirates this month said it would invest US$1 billion inPakistan and, according to reports,

Saudi Arabia is considering extending an emergency US$2 billion loan madelast year.

The latest boost came in talks between Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin HamadAl Thani and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The emir “stressed the importance of the brotherly and strategic relationsbetween the two countries” and the need to bolster their economicpartnership, an official Qatari statement said. -APP/AFP