September 26, 2023 (MLN): The country incurred external loans of $316.14 million in August 2023 from multiple financing sources, the latest monthly report by the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) showed.
This takes the total external loans in 2MFY24 to 3.206 billion against the annual budget estimates of $17.62bn for FY24.
Out of $316.14m, the government obtained a $196m loan for non-project aid that includes $66.12m in the form of program/budgetary support assistance to restructure Pakistan’s economy, $29.87m for short-term credit, and $100m for SFD oil facility, while $120.15m has been obtained for project aid financing during the month.
Going into details made available by EAD, the disbursement from bilateral and multilateral development partners maintained a strong trend as it totaled $250m in August and $557.23m of foreign economic assistance during 2MFY24. These healthy inflows also helped to improve foreign exchange reserves.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs noted that the country continued to depend on foreign commercial borrowing as it amounted to $66.12m, which was obtained through from Naya Pakistan Certificate in August 2023.
During the month, the foreign assistance obtained by Pakistan through multilateral sources totaled nearly $142.71m in August and $335.87m in 2MFY24.
Amongst the multilateral development partners, in August, the International Development Association-World Bank (IDA) provided $78.36m, followed by IsDB (Short-term) with $29.87m, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with $16.68m, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) with $13.47m, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with $4.33m.
The monthly bulletin revealed that the collective disbursement from bilateral donors amounted to $142.71m in August and $221.36m during the 2MFY24, wherein Pakistan received $100m from Saudi Arabia in the month of August, followed by the USA with $3.3m, Japan with $2.69m, France with $0.72m, while Germany gave $0.61m during the period under review.
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