February 24th, 2023: The news was confirmed by finance minister Ishaq Dar. Read to know more.
China has approved a loan of $700 million (Rs 57,81,68,50,000) to Pakistan, confirmed by the Pakistani finance minister Ishaq Dar. The announcement of approval of the loan by the Board of China Development Bank came a day after the National Assembly of Pakistan passed a money bill to raise tax revenues to fulfill the demands from the IMF (International Monetary Funds).
After the loan was approved, finance minister Ishaq Dar tweeted, “Formalities have been completed and the Board of China Development Bank has approved the facility of $700 million for Pakistan. This amount is expected to be received this week by the State Bank of Pakistan which will shore up its forex reserves!” The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also set up measures to bring down its expenditures by increasing taxes and decreasing the government expenses.
The government has also ordered the foreign ministry to bring down the number of missions abroad and reduce the offices and staff to save some expenditures. However, in November 2022, the Pakistani finance minister mentioned that they have acquired a bailout of $13 billion (Rs 10,73,82,01,50,000) and $5.7 billion (4,70,82,88,35,000) from China and Saudi Arabia respectively and the minister was also confident on receiving the amount.
Nevertheless, it was clear that Pakistan’s allies refused to send cash to Pakistan without the country first agreeing to IMF’s terms and conditions.
