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China Approves $1.3 Bln Loan Rollover for Pakistan


Sat 04 Mar 2023 | 07:38 PM
Israa Farhan

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar announced that China has given his country a loan of $1.3 billion.

He added on Twitter, on Friday, that the new loan was obtained by the Chinese Industrial and Commercial Bank, and it will be granted in 3 batches. The first batch has been delivered to the Pakistani Central Bank, valued at $500 million, and added that it will increase foreign exchange reserves.

Dar noted that China made a great offer of friendship, adding that the nation is in a risky" position, but it will not fail to pay, according to the American Bloomberg agency.

Pakistan had earlier, a $700 million loan from China, to increase its foreign exchange reserves.

The country’s authorities are based on a rescue loan from the International Monetary Fund, to ward off the failure to pay, which has been far-reaching until now.

In order to gain support from lenders, the country in South Asia increased taxes, raised energy prices, and allowed its currency to decline.

The Pakistani minister said the country will raise the prices of electricity during the next 24 hours for the next fiscal year.

Pakistan is currently facing increasing economic challenges, with high inflation rates, foreign exchange reserves decreased, the expansion of the current account deficit and a decrease in the value of the currency, according to the Pakistani "Geo News" website.