ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday thanked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for depositing $3 billion dollars into the Pakistani central bank and agreeing to $1.2 billion in financing for refined petroleum products.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are longtime allies. Riyadh gave Pakistan a $3 billion loan and a $3.2 billion oil credit facility in late 2018.
Khan said the kingdom “has always been there for Pak in our difficult times.”
Late on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s state news agency SPA said the latest funds will “help the Pakistani government support its foreign currency reserves and support it in facing the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Pakistani information minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain confirmed on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia would support Pakistan with the $3 billion deposit in the central bank and also “finance refined petroleum products with 1.2 billion US dollars during the year.”
Pakistan’s finance chief Shaukat Tarin thanked the kingdom for the “generous” contribution.
“We thank the Crown Prince & the KSA for this kind gesture,” he wrote on Twitter.
The news comes after Pakistani Prime Minister returned from a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia.
On Monday he met with the Saudi crown prince on the sidelines of the Middle East Green Initiative summit in Riyadh and discussed with him a range of issues, including climate change, measures to tackle it and the Afghanistan situation.