PM Shehbaz, Irfan Siddiqui discuss country’s political situation

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Irfan Siddiqui discussed the political situation of Pakistan on Thursday.

Siddiqui thanked the PM Shehbaz for a $3 billion staff-level deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the time.

IMF has released $1.2 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as the first tranche of the stand-by agreement, according to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who made the announcement today. The stand-by deal was approved by the IMF executive board the previous day.

He said that the increase in Pakistan's foreign reserves over the last four days was due to Saudi Arabia's $2 billion deposit and the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) $1 billion contribution.

Dar said in a public speech that the remaining $1.8 will be distributed in two instalments after two reviews.

In the plan sent to the lender, sources in the Finance Division said that Pakistan arranged $3.5 billion in bilateral funds from China, $2 billion from Saudi Arabia, and $1 from the United Arab Emirates.

On the multilateral side, Pakistan aims to secure $500 million from Asian Development Bank, $500 million from World Bank, and $3 billion from the IMF.

Fitch said local authorities expect $25 billion in gross new external financing in FY24, against $15 billion in public debt maturities, including $1 billion in bonds and $3.6 billion to multilateral creditors.

In a bid to ensure that the programme's measures are implemented in the lead-up to the elections due in October, the lender's team met all mainstream political parties including Imran Khan-led Pakistan tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to seek support and consensus for the SBA.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has received today a deposit of $1 billion from United Arab Emirates. This inflow has further increased forex reserves held by SBP and will accordingly be reflected in the forex reserves position for the week ending 14July2023.

— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) July 12, 2023