$3,552m foreign assistance received for socio-economic challenges, khusro Bakhtiar told NA

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received foreign assistance amounting to over 3,552 million dollars as loans and grants from various bilateral and multilateral development partners to address the health related and socio-economic challenges caused by COVID-19. This was stated by Minister for Economic Affairs Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar in a written reply to the National Assembly during the question hour on Thursday. The Minister said the G-20 countries provided relief of 2012.47 million dollars through debt service suspension. He said the external economic assistance provided a fiscal space to the government to divert financial resources for saving lives and livelihoods of the people and mitigate economic impact of the COVID-19. He said it also helped to improve foreign exchanges reserves, stabilize exchange rate and build buffers against external economic shocks. The House has now been prorogued. NNI