Saudi Arabia providing Pakistan $3bn to boost ‘reserves’

Saudi Arabia will provide Pakistan with $3 billion to help bolster the country’s reserves, Islamabad’s finance ministry said late on Tuesday, after Pakistan said it was returning billions in loans to Riyadh’s ally-turned-rival the UAE.

“Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, has informed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has committed USD 3 billion in additional deposits, with disbursement expected in the coming week,” the ministry said in a statement.

Aurangzeb, who is in Washington for the International Monetary Fund’s annual Spring Meetings, added that an existing $5 billion Saudi deposit would also be extended for an unspecified period.