Saudi Arabia will deposit $3 billion in Pakistan’s central bank and provide oil on deferred payments to help the country overcome a deepening economic crisis, according to officials.

Pakistan’s information minister, Fawad Chaudhry, said the money from Saudi would be used to maintain the central bank’s depleting reserves at a safe level.

Riyadh will also provide Pakistan with a $1.2-billion-a-year lifeline to buy oil on deferred payments to cover one of the main imports of the country facing a balance of payment crisis.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the assistance was agreed upon as Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Saudi Arabia last weekend and met with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.

The agreement came as a boost for Pakistan after the country’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive a $6-billion-bailout package ran into trouble due to lack of progress on a reforms deal.

The IMF has been pushing Pakistan to fix a market-based exchange rate that saw a freefall of the local currency from 153 a rupee against a dollar in May to 175 on Tuesday.

However, the currency depreciation coupled with a record increase in energy prices pushed inflation beyond 10 per cent last week.

“That triggered political protests and the continuous decline of the main index on the stock exchange,” the officials said.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, both Sunni-majority Muslim countries, have been allies for decades, but the relations have been strained in recent years.

In 2018, Riyadh announced the same package for Islamabad, but it did not materialise after Pakistan warmed up to Turkey and Malaysia, two Islamic nations Saudis consider rivals. 

(dpa/NAN)