ISLAMABAD      -          Pakistan has secured $4.255 billion foreign loans in four months (July to October) of ongoing fiscal year (2022-23) to build its foreign exchange reserves, which are reducing mainly due to the repayment against previous loans. The government has budgeted foreign assistance of $22.8 billion for the current fiscal year. Meanwhile it has received 18.7 percent ($4.255 billion) of the annual $22.8 billion in four months of the year 2022-23. According to the latest data of Ministry of Economic Affairs, the government has received $2.017 billion external loans in October 2022, mainly $1.522 billion from the Asian Development Banks (ADB). The country has taken $1.166 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), $2.322 billion from multilateral sources and $497.44 million from bilateral sources and $200 million from the foreign commercial banks making total loan disbursement at $4.255 billion in July to September period of FY23. Meanwhile, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved $500 million for Pakistan in ongoing month (October). The government is also expecting to receive $450 million from the World Bank within current month, as Pakistan had met all conditions attached to the Resilient Institution for Sustainable Economy (RISE-II) programme. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will grant approval for co-financing of $450 million, so a total funding of $900 million will be provided to Pakistan. The inflow would help in building the country’s foreign exchange reserves, which had declined in last few months owing to the repayment against previous loans. The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $13.796 billion as of 11- Nov-2022. Foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan are $7.959 billion and net foreign reserves held by commercial banks are $5,836 billion. The government has budgeted foreign assistance of $22.8 billion for the current fiscal year including $7.5 billion foreign commercial banks, $22.655 billion loans, and $161.46 million grants. China has disbursed $54.93 million during the first four months of the current fiscal year against the government budgeted estimates of $49.02 million for the current fiscal year. Saudi Arabia disbursed $400 million under the defer oil payment facility against the budgeted $800 million. The USA disbursed $10.34 million during the period under review against the budgeted 32.49 million for the current fiscal year. Korea disbursed $16.63 million and France $8.4 million during July to October period of the current fiscal year. In multilateral, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) disbursed $1.635 billion out of $3.202 billion budgeted for the current fiscal year. The IDA $459.25 million against the budgeted $1.4 billion, IBRD $41.89 million against the budgeted $1.246 billion and Islamic Development Bank disbursed $13.9 million against the budgeted $3.38 million for the current financial year. Pakistan’s debt is continuously increasing. The latest data of SBP showed that Pakistan’s debt and liabilities stood at Rs62.46 trillion in JulySeptember FY2023, compared with Rs50.49 trillion in the same period of last fiscal year. The country’s debt rose 24.7 percent to Rs59.37 trillion, while total liabilities increased 23 percent to Rs3.56 trillion.