Pakistan repays $2bn loan to UAE, confirms SBP

• Pakistan repays UAE along with “6% interest payment”.
• Besides UAE loan, govt recently repaid $1.43bn in external debt.
• Aurangzeb says govt looking at Eurobond and Islamic sukuk.
  

ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Saturday confirmed that the government has returned $2 billion in debt to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The SBP spokesperson said that the amount was kept with the central banks as a safe deposit.

The development came a day after Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to extend the maturity of Riyadh's $3 billion deposit placed with the SBP. The agreement provides for the extension of the maturity of a $3 billion deposit placed by SFD with the SBP.

Separately, the central bank, earlier this week, had said it received $2 billion from the kingdom “in the value date of April 15, 2026".

However, Pakistan’s external financing gap is likely to expand after the government replayed $2 billion in deposits to the UAE, along with a 6% interest payment.

In addition to this, Pakistan has recently repaid $1.43 billion in external debt, including the $1.3 billion Eurobond.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday had said that they were considering Eurobonds, loans from other countries and commercial debt to replace the loan facility from the UAE and manage its foreign reserves.

He had told Reuters the shock from the ongoing war in the Middle East meant that Pakistan must consider a strategic petroleum reserve and a faster switch to renewable energy.

"All options are on the table," Aurangzeb said when asked if the government was in talks with Saudi Arabia for a loan that could replace the UAE facility.

Aurangzeb, speaking on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank annual spring meetings, had said the country could manage all debt repayments, and that its reserves remained at roughly 2.8 months of import cover.

Maintaining at least that level, he said, would be "an important aspect of our overall macro stability as we go forward."

"We are looking at Eurobond, we are looking at Islamic sukuk, we are looking at dollar-settled rupee-linked bonds," Aurangzeb had said, adding that they expected to issue Eurobonds this year and are also exploring commercial loans.

He had said while the country had not yet requested any addition or changes to its $7 billion IMF lending programme due to the economic shocks of the war in the Middle East, it was a potential option.

"Depending upon how things pan out over the next few weeks, that's something which can be discussed," he said.

The Fund's board is likely to sign off on the latest lending tranche by the end of this month or early next month, Aurangzeb had said, which would unlock just under $1.3 billion via the Extended Fund Facility and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility.

— With additional input from Reuters