ISLAMABAD-After finalising a much needed nine-month deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Pakistan has received $5.416 billion loans in the first two months (July and August) of the current fiscal year from various international lenders.
Pakistan received $3.2 billion in budget and project financing and another $2.2 billion came in State Bank of Pakistan’s account during the first two months of the ongoing financial year 2023-24. The inflows helped in building the country’s foreign exchange reserves, which earlier were depleting. The major financing of $3 billion came from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The IMF disbursed $1.2 billion. However, the caretaker government has received only $316 million in the month of August this year.
The country is expecting to receive $6 billion inflows from multiple sources during the current year 2023 including the next tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF would hold the next review with Pakistan in November this year, which would pave the way for releasing the next loan tranche by the end of current year. The country would also receive loans from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank and rollover of deposits from friendly countries on maturity. Overall, the country would receive $6 billion from different sources.
The IMF would release around one billion dollars if it is satisfied with the economic situation of the country. The government is expecting $1 billion from Islamic Development Bank, $450 million from the World Bank and $250 million from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in the ongoing month. The country might receive $300 million to $500 million of Geneva pledges for flood-affected areas and $1 billion to $2 billion minimum from UAE commercial banks, which will not be rolled over during the last few months.
The loan of $2.89 billion taken by the government is 30.8 percent of the annual estimates of $17.6 billion, which the country would receive in the current fiscal year. According to the latest data, the country has received $508 million as CATIC (PAF), $335.87 million from multilateral, $221.36 million from bilateral, $140 million from Naya Pakistan Certificate and $2 billion as time deposit loan in the month of July this year.
In multilateral sources, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has disbursed $38.78 million, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) $16.07 million, $161.07 million from IDA of the World Bank and $97.1 million as IsDB (Short-term). In bilateral sources, Pakistan has received $200 million from Saudi Arabia as oil facilities, $11.64 million from the United States, $4.85 million from Korea and $1.28 million from France.