Govt asked to apprise Senate of Saudi loan terms

ISLAMABAD: PPP leader and senator Sherry Rehman on Tuesday demanded of the PTI-led federal government to inform the Senate of the terms and conditions on which Saudi Arabia agreed to extend financial assistance to Pakistan to help it tide over the current economic difficulties.

Speaking in the upper house of Parliament, the senator demanded that the government should disclose the terms on which the kingdom agreed to a rescue package for Pakistan.

She further questioned on what basis Islamabad offered to play a role of mediator in the dispute between Saudi Arabia and its neighboring Yemen.

Last month, Saudi Arabia agreed to provide Pakistan $3billion for a period of one year as balance of payment support and $3billion worth of oil on deferred payments.

Hailing the Saudi bailout, Prime Minister Imran Khan lately said the kingdom had been very generous with its support for Islamabad.

Separately, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a statement had sought to dispel the impression of secret deal behind the Saudi package for Pakistan and said KSA had not placed any condition on our country for returning the $6 billion financial support.

He said the assistance provided by Saudi Arabia will lessen the financial burden on Pakistan, adding that we were thankful to Saudi Arabia for helping us in this difficult hour.

He said we were trying to get loans from other friendly countries so that we could rely less on IMF, he added.