ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will start receiving Saudi oil on deferred payment facility from July 1, a press statement from the Saudi embassy in Islamabad confirmed late Monday.
“Pakistan will start receiving monthly oil supplies worth $275 million from Saudi Arabia with effect of July 1, 2019,” the embassy said in a statement.
These supplies will continue over the next three years, with a total value of $9.9 billion, the statement added.
In October 2018, Saudi Arabia announced a $20 billion economic support package for Pakistan, which included $3 billion to support balance of external payments in addition to oil import facility on deferred payment.
Saudi embassy said that the package showed “keenness of Saudi leadership to support Pakistan’s economy for achieving financial stability and help the government to overcome the economic challenges and push the comprehensive development in Pakistan, and to emphasize the depth of relations between the two brotherly counties and people.”
Dr. Vaqar Ahmed Joint Executive Director at Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), an Islamabad based think-tank, said that “this will bring significant relief to the balance of payment situation in Pakistan,” which is already struggling to narrow down the current account gap. “Any arrangement which can allow Pakistan deferred payment of its oil supplies will certainly be welcomed.”
“This will also provide certainty to the industry which of course requires sustained oil supplies as input and raw material,” Ahmed added calling the move “a great help for Pakistan in pressing times.”
According to official figures, Pakistan spends more than $16 billion each year on importing 26 million tons of petroleum products, including 800 million cubic feet of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf countries.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy deep-rooted economic ties. During the visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Pakistan in February 2019, the Kingdom signed several agreement and memoranda of understandings (MoUs) pledging to invest $20bn in Pakistan to boost its depleting foreign exchange reserves — including establishing a $10bn oil refinery in the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan province.
Pakistan to start receiving Saudi oil on deferred payment
Pakistan to start receiving Saudi oil on deferred payment
- Supplies will continue over the next three years, with a total value of $9.9 billion
- The facility is part of $20 bn Saudi economic support package for Pakistan
Pakistan voices support for Saudi diplomatic efforts for peace, stability in Yemen
- The development comes days after a deal between Yemen’s Houthis, government to exchange nearly 3,000 prisoners
- Islamabad underscores the need to uphold Yemen’s unity, hoping that the stakeholders will avoid any unilateral steps
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan fully supports diplomatic efforts being undertaken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for ensuring peace and stability in Yemen, the Pakistani foreign office said on Friday.
The development comes days after an agreement between Yemen’s Houthi group and its internationally recognized government to exchange nearly 3,000 prisoners, which Riyadh hailed as a crucial humanitarian measure to help alleviate human suffering and foster confidence-building in Yemen.
The deal came after nearly a fortnight of discussions between Yemeni officials from both sides in Muscat, the capital of neighboring Oman, a key mediator in the conflict that has lasted for more than a decade.
The Pakistani foreign office underscored the need to uphold unity and territorial integrity of Yemen, expressing hope that Yemeni stakeholders will avoid any unilateral steps and urging all parties to engage constructively toward an inclusive, negotiated political solution of the conflict.
“Pakistan expresses its hope that the ongoing diplomatic efforts will result in concrete steps toward achieving lasting peace in the country, and in bringing an end to the suffering of the Yemeni people,” it said in a statement.
“We also commend the efforts of the UAE in this regard.”
United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg in a statement welcomed the agreement as “a positive and meaningful step that will hopefully ease the suffering of detainees and their families across Yemen.”
On Thursday, Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Jaber met with a negotiating delegation concerned with detainees in the country and reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s continued support for the complete release of all detainees, abductees and forcibly disappeared persons from all parties, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
During the meeting, he emphasized the importance of completing implementation procedures, exchanging lists and records, and expediting the execution of the agreed mechanism for the exchange process.
