Two separate repayments of $600m and $415m have been made to two Dubai-based banks, say sources
\n islamabad
\nForeign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) dwindled down to only $4.5 billion after the repayment of loans worth $1.2 billion to United Arab Emirates (UAE) banks, sources told Geo News Saturday.
\nThis, according to sources, leaves the country with an import cover of only under a month, as Pakistan faces a severe economic crunch amid a greenback shortage.
\nA breakup shows Pakistan returned $600 million to Emirates Bank, while it repaid $420 million to Dubai Islamic Bank, according to sources.
\nSources said the coalition government would try to mobilise foreign funding worth $1.5 billion in the upcoming International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan.
\nPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to Geneva on Sunday. He will lead a high-level delegation comprising federal ministers and SAPMs to Switzerland where he will co-host the conference \u2014 along with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres \u2014 on January 9.
\nThe conference aims to assist Pakistan\u2019s people and government recover more effectively from the recent devastating floods.
\n\u201cMaybe our friendly countries are waiting for the donors\u2019 conference so they can help us [and provide loans],\u201d Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal told Geo News\u2019 Shahzeb Khanzada last month.
\nDuring the week ended on December 30, 2022, the forex reserves held by the central bank, dropped by $245 million to $5.57 billion \u2014 the lowest level since April 2014 \u2014 down from last week\u2019s reserves of $5.821 billion.
\nThe net foreign reserves held by commercial banks amount to $5.84 billion, with the total reserves clocking in at $11.42 billion.
\nThe National Security Committee (NSC) recently agreed on undertaking concrete steps \u2014 including import rationalisation as well as preventing illegal currency outflows and hawala business \u2014 in order to strengthen the economy.
\nAmid a crisis-like situation, Pakistan will have to repay approximately $8.3 billion in the shape of external debt servicing over the next three months (Jan-March) of the current fiscal year.
\nThe government is eyeing to pass the ninth review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure a $1.7 billion bailout package, but both sides have made no substantial headway in recent days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two separate repayments of $600m and $415m have been made to two Dubai-based banks, say sources islamabad Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) dwindled down to only $4.5 billion after the repayment of loans worth $1.2 billion to United Arab Emirates (UAE) banks, sources told Geo News Saturday. This, according […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-306119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n