January 22, 2020 (MLN): Pakistan has received nearly $5.78 billion worth assistance after taking into account loans and grants from multilateral, bilateral, Saudi Arabia-Short term loans as well as Commercial Banks during 1HFY20.
Going by the details provided by the Economic Affairs Division (EAD), Pakistan received around $3.576 billion as foreign economic assistance from multiple bilateral and multilateral sources in the first six months (Jul-Dec) of FY20.
Foreign assistance obtained by Pakistan through multilateral sources during the period totalled $2.86 billion where ADB emerged as the primary lender within the multilateral group, as it disbursed loans approximately $2.15 billion to Pakistan during 1HFY20, whereas, Pakistan received a total grant of $37.53.
Regarding grants, ADB disbursed $13.92 million on the project of Enhancing Public-Private Partnership in Sindh, Pakistan, whereas it gave economic assistance of $13.38 million on ‘National Highway Network Development program N-50 & N-70’project.
During the period under review, ADB, moreover, disbursed $4.74 million grant on project ‘Punjab Basmati Rice Value Chain project’.
The second highest source of multilateral financing is IDB (S-term) with the assistance of $408.21 million during the said period.
On the other hand, the collective disbursement from bilateral donors amounted to $710.67 million during the aforementioned period. Within this category, China emerged as the greatest source of assistance during the period, with a loan of $391.76 million, while the grant from the UK valued at $121.71 million.
