ISLAMABAD: China has granted permission for the one-year rollover of $2 billion in State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) deposits.
Ishaq Dar, the federal finance minister, made this statement to a non-public outlet.
It was one of the requirements put up by the IMF in order to get the rollover of Chinese SAFE deposits in order to satisfy the nation’s needs for external financing and move closer to the eagerly anticipated staff-level agreement.
Nine tables under the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) need to be filled in.
The IMF’s request that Pakistan fill the $6 billion deficit is only an effort to maintain its credibility. Pakistan might enter default if the plan doesn’t materialise.
The fact that members of Gulf nations on the Executive Board had committed to giving Islamabad financial support in a variety of ways before the acceptance of the seventh and eighth evaluations obliged the Fund to make this demand during negotiations. These comprised further investments and deposits.
All eyes are now on the UAE, Qatar, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to save Pakistan’s faltering economy.
Only China had stepped forward to save Islamabad by honouring its promises to refinance its commercial loans and roll over its SAFE deposits.
