ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is seeking confirmation from Saudi Arabia to secure additional deposits of $2 billion and a $950 million loan from the world Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for the signing of a Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) with the IMF within the coming week.
“We are hopeful,” a government official dealing with the IMF replied when asked about the development.
The World Bank’s Resilient Institution for Sustainable Economy (RISE-II) has offered AIIB lending of $950 million only if Pakistan secures the IMF bailout.
Another official assured that Pakistan was expecting to strike the SLA with IMF in the next few days, however, the Fund was reluctant to give any time frame for finalising the agreement.
China had already re-financed two commercial loans of $1.2 billion in two instalments, $700 million and $500 million. Now two more instalments of $500 million and $300 million would be re-financed by Chinese commercial banks in the coming days.
Pakistan is facing difficulty in its talks with IMF due to the increased hostility between China and the United States as they have to secure the SLA in a delicate balancing act to steer the economy and diplomacy in such a way that suits Islamabad’s larger interest.
