Saudi Arabia, UAE, China saved Pakistan from defaulting on loans — PM Khan

ISLAMABAD: In an online video address to the nation on Sunday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said aid from Saudi Arabia, UAE and China had saved Pakistan from defaulting on its loans.
In late 2018, Saudi Arabia provided Pakistan with a $6.2 billion financial support package – a $3 billion loan and a $3.2 billion deferred oil financing facility. Similarly, the UAE had extended a $2 billion loan to the cash-strapped country.
“In our toughest times, if Saudi Arabia, UAE and China had not helped us, we would have defaulted,” PM Khan said.
“We didn’t have any money to return loans,” he said. 
“...Pakistan’s loans had increased four-fold, interest payments rose, foreign exchange reserves had finished... and there was a historic current account deficit. The country was saved from defaulting with great difficulty,” he continued.
If the country had defaulted, he went on to say, the Pakistani currency might today have been valued at PKR200 [to the dollar]... or PKR300.”
Pakistan’s rupee advanced to around its highest level against the dollar in nearly two years in March this year. It gained about 4 percent in 2021, the only currency to strengthen against the dollar in Asia, according to a basket of currencies compiled by Bloomberg.
Earlier this year, the country revived a $6 billion International Monetary Fund bailout program.