A man carries a sack as he walks through the flood waters with submerged houses in the background, following rains and floods during the monsoon season in Mehar, Pakistan, on August 29, 2022. (Reuters)

UAE to loan $1 bln, roll over another $2 bln to Pakistan

Reuters

Published: 12 January ,2023: 03:27 PM GST Updated: 12 January ,2023: 03:38 PM GST

The United Arab Emirates on Thursday agreed to lend $1 billion to Pakistan and roll over an existing $2 billion loan already in central bank reserves of the South Asian nation, Pakistan’s information minister said.

Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in the UAE earlier Thursday on a two-day visit.

Sharif met UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan before the announcement came, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a statement.

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Sharif is also scheduled to meet other UAE officials and business leaders to seek business and economic opportunities.

As a ninth IMF review to clear the release of the next $1.1 billion tranche of funds to Pakistan has been pending since September, the external financing is critical for the country’s broken economy.

Pakistan faces a severe economic crisis with its central bank foreign reserves this week likely to fall to a critical level of below $5 billion, which is barely enough for three weeks of imports.

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