July 23, 2021 (MLN): Pakistan received $14.28 billion total external inflows during July-June FY21 from bilateral and multilateral development partners, foreign commercial borrowing, bonds, and time deposits to restructure its economy and finance its development projects.
This foreign aid provides a wide range of support in the areas of capital formation, employment, health, education, public transport, water reservoir, and more, driving economic growth and helping to promote socio-economic and human development in Pakistan.
In a monthly report on Foreign Economic Assistance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs noted the country relied on foreign commercial borrowing as it was recorded at $4.72bn in FY21 out of $14.28bn (33%) owing to the repayment of maturing foreign commercial loans.
Going into details made available by EAD, the disbursement from bilateral and multilateral development partners also maintained a strong trend as it totaled $4.82bn of foreign economic assistance during FY21. These healthy inflows also helped to improve foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate stability.
Foreign assistance obtained by Pakistan through multilateral sources during July-June FY21 totaled $4.37bn. Amongst the multilateral development partners, International Development Association-World Bank provided $1.60bn while Asian Development Bank gave $1.37bn during FY21.
The monthly bulletin revealed that the collective disbursement from bilateral donors amounted to $453mn during FY21 wherein Pakistan received $203mn from China, followed by the United States with $108.48mn, the United Kingdom with $49.5mn while France gave $41.53mn.
Similarly, the country obtained $2.5bn through international bonds against a budget target of $1.5bn during the said period.
Increased level of external inflows from multilateral and bilateral development partners is indicative of their confidence in development priorities and policies of the government including implementation of reforms in the priority areas of fiscal and debt management, energy sector, and ease of doing business.
Copyright Mettis Link News
42355
