By Iftikhar Mashwani
ISLAMABAD : China has once again paid the right of friendship to Pakistan by transferring 700 million US Dollars installments to the State Bank Pakistan on Friday.
According sources 700 Millions of dollars have been approved by China Development Bank(CDB) on Friday as loan to Pakistan.
Currently, the country’s economy is at a historic decline due to the failed economic strategy/policies of the current coalition government.
However,amid the delay in the revival of the over six billion dollars IMF programme,the present government continued to face difficulty in increasing the foreign exchange reserves.
The $700 million deposited by China DB was the most sought-after amount as the Pakistan was struggling to pay off its extraordinarily high levels of external debt and barely has enough dollars to cover less than three weeks’ worth of imports.
The China Development Bank approved a loan facility for Pakistan worth $700 million, after the completion of formalities in this regard.
The sources also confirmed that the two more commercial loans are also expected to be re-financed including $500 million and $800 million.
Pakistan is re-financing of Chinese loans up to $2 billion by the end of February or the first week of March 2023.
Pakistan’s external debt servicing obligation for the ongoing fiscal year 2022-23 is $23 billion, of which $6 billion has been repaid and $4 billion rolled over, leaving $13 billion yet to be funded.
