Pakistan secured $5.688b in external loans during July-Dec period

• ADB provided $1,120 million
• World Bank disbursed $744 million
• $95.4 million received from China

ISLAMABAD: In the first six months of the current financial year, Pakistan secured a total of $5.688 billion in external loans, The News reported on Thursday.

Data issued by the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) showed that the government received $5.688 million in external inflows from multiple financing sources during the July-December 2020-21 - which is 46% of annual budget estimates of $12,233 million for the entire fiscal year 2020-21.

The number has fallen by $227 million compared to the same period in fiscal year 2019-20 when the country secured $5.915 billion - which was also 46% of the annual budgeted amount of $12,958 million.

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The $5,688 million constitutes $1,634 million or 29% as programme for budgetary support to restructure the economy, $2,054 million (36%) as foreign commercial borrowing to repay maturing foreign commercial loans and $754 million (13%) as project assistance to finance development projects and asset creation. Data showed that $246 million (13%) were secured as commodity financing while $1,000 million (18%) were received as safe deposits from China.

Loans from multilateral and bilateral development partners amounted to $2,633 million during review against budgetary allocation of $5,811 million for fiscal year 2020-21 on concessional terms with longer maturity. These healthy inflows have helped improve foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate stability.

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Amongst the multilateral development partners, mainly the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided $1,120 million, World Bank disbursed $744 million against the budgetary allocation of $2,257 million. The bilateral sources, France, USA and China, provided $34.3 million, $70.5 million & $95.4 million respectively.