Pakistan is likely to require $25 billion of funding during the next fiscal year to meet all its debt obligations and expenditures, sources at the Ministry of Finance have told Nukta.
For this purpose, the government would seek rollovers amounting to $12 billion from friendly countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The government would request Saudi Arabia to rollover around $5 billion debt, China around $4 billion and the UAE around $3 billion.
Officials from the Ministry of Finance would meet their Chinese and Saudi Arabian counterparts for timely rollovers of debts. Meanwhile, State Bank of Pakistan officials would be responsible for convincing UAE officials to rollover their debt.
The sources further said that the government would seek $4.6 billion in project financing from friendly countries and international financial institutions.
For this purpose, Asian Infrastructure Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corporation, and World Bank would be approached to lend funding to complete and start some projects.
Loans and grants received
Pakistan received $16.08 billion in foreign loans and grants in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2024-25, compared to an annual target of $19.2 billion by June 30.
According to the data, nearly half of the amount has been from rollovers by China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, fresh loans and grant inflows amounted to $6.086 billion in July-April, almost 15% lower than the comparable period of last fiscal year.
This does not include about $1 billion disbursed by the IMF in October as an upfront payment under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF). This also does not include the subsequent $1 billion IMF inflow last week.
This amount would be accounted separately by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Comments
See what people are discussing