Pakistan receives $2bn deposit from Saudi Arabia: Ishaq Dar

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said the State Bank of Pakistan has received $2 billion of deposits from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In a message on Tuesday, Ishaq Dar said the friendly country had made a commitment in this regard in the recent past. He said these deposits had enhanced the country’s foreign exchange reserves from $9.67 billion to $11.67 billion.

“Our brotherly country Saudi Arabia had made an announcement recently that it would deposit its $2 billion with State Bank of Pakistan. They have placed the deposits and the amount has been credited to SBP,” the minister said.

He said, this would be a straightaway increase in the country’s foreign exchange reserves which stood at around $9.7 billion last Friday he said, however, he added the new position of exchange reserves would be reflected in the coming Friday.

The minister on behalf of Prime Minister, Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff, Asim Munir, and the nation thanked Saudi Leadership particularly King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman for this support.

He said Saudi Arabia has been playing the role of a brother to Pakistan and stands with it on every occasion. The minister said that some more good developments would follow and lead the economy towards growth, adding that the economy of the country has already been stabilized with the efforts of the incumbent government.

It is pertinent to mention the Fitch Ratings upgraded Pakistan’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘CCC’ from ‘CCC, indicating a positive development toward the betterment of the country’s economy

The rating agency dentified key indicators that contributed to the positive development rating which include improvement in easing external financing risks.

The upgrade in ratings reflects Pakistan’s improved external liquidity and funding conditions following its Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a nine-month Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) in June.