Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to ink $1bn oil sector agreement

• Agreement expected to be signed in next few days.
• Agreement to be signed through SDF.
• SDF also directed to study augmenting KSA's investments.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are expected to ink an agreement of over $1 billion in the oil sector, through the Saudi Development Fund, a Saudi news channel said on Wednesday.

“The coming days will witness the signing of an agreement between the Kingdom and Pakistan through the Saudi Development Fund (SDF), with an increase of one billion dollars for oil derivatives,” Nawaf Al-Maliki, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Pakistan was quoted as saying by the Saudi Al-Khabaria channel.

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) earlier in a report mentioned that Crown Prince and Prime MinisterPrince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saudhas directed to study augmenting the Kingdom's investments in Pakistan, which have previously been announced on August 25, 2022, and were slated to reach $10 billion.

The SPA said the crown prince also directed the Saudi Development Fund (SDF) to study increasing the amount of the deposit provided by Saudi Arabia in favour of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). This has been extended on December 2, 2022, to hit a $5 billion ceiling, the agency said.

The Saudi official news agency said that the move strengthened the Kingdom’s position to support the economy of Pakistan and support its people.

The report pointed out that the move followed communication between the crown prince and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.