Pakistan economic crisis has been addressed by Saudi Arabia for the time being as Riyadh has agreed to provide $3 billion in foreign currency support for a year and allow it to defer payments for oil imports.
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The pact came as new Pakistani PM Imran Khan attended a Saudi investment conference which was boycotted by various other leaders over the death of a dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul.
Imran Khan had stated before departing from Pakistan that his country is “desperate” to shore up its foreign currency reserves, which are at a four-year low, equivalent to less than two months’ imports and barely enough to make its debt repayments.
Pakistan Finance Minister Asad Umar earlier this month requested talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the country’s second bailout in five years. An IMF team is due to visit Pakistan to open negotiations on Nov. 7. Khan had however sought to avoid going to the IMF and still wants to at least reduce the size of any bailout by appealing to “friendly countries” for bilateral financial support.
Earlier, the West blamed the CPEC project for the economic crisis in Pakistan, but China has blatantly rejected the allegations stating that the ongoing financial crisis in Pakistan has nothing to do with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
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