Pakistan to borrow $5bn from China, Russia, Kazakhstan: sources

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to seek $5 billion in loans from China, Russia and Kazakhstan as Pakistan make desperate efforts to stabilise forex reserves, ARY News reported on Monday, citing well-placed sources.

As per details, Pakistan is expecting to get $3 billion loan from China and $2 billion from Russia and Kazakhstan. The loan from China will be used for stabilizing the foreign reserves, while $2 billion loan that is expected from Russia and Kazakhstan will be utilised for ML1.

Sources privy to the matter shared that the finance ministry has finalised the plan for the loan and an agreement in this regard will likely be signed with China during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Beijing next month.

Initially, the finance ministry sources added, the loan agreement with China will be signed for one year period, the sources said.

On January 28, the foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank fell 846 million during the week ending on January 21, the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said.

Sharing a break-up of the foreign reserves position, the central bank had said that foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $16.2bn, down $846mn.