KARACHI: Pakistan’s currency and equity markets showed a bullish trend on Thursday and recovered some of their losses after Saudi Arabia announced a generous financial package of $4.2 billion, said traders and analysts.
The Saudi government offered the package during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s three-day visit to the kingdom, giving a much-needed impetus to the country’s stock and forex markets.
The Saudi Fund for Development announced on Tuesday that a royal directive had been issued to deposit an amount of $3 billion in Pakistan’s central bank to support the country’s foreign currency reserves and help it overcome the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
It also mentioned another directive to finance the trade of oil with an amount of $1.2 billion for a year.
“Stocks closed higher and the rupee recovered against the backdrop of Saudi inflows and the finance minister’s assurance over the revival of the International Monetary Fund [IMF] program,” Ahsan Mehanti, chief executive of Arif Habib Corporation, told Arab News. “The Saudi government’s package and deferred oil payment facility of $4.2 billion played a catalyst role in the bullish close.”
Saudi Arabia had also supported Pakistan back in 2019 with $3 billion of deposit and $1.2 billion of deferred oil payment facility.
The kingdom’s recent financial assistance has come at a time when the country is negotiating with the IMF to revive a $6 billion loan program. The talks are expected to pave the way for the sixth review of the Extended Fund Facility, enabling Pakistan to draw $1 billion from the fund.
Pakistani officials and experts said there was no link between the IMF talks and the Saudi financial package, though they maintained the latter had already impacted the country’s foreign exchange reserves and stock market positively.
“There is no link between the Saudi package and the Fund’s sixth review,” Shaukat Tarin, Pakistan’s finance chief, categorically said at a press conference on Wednesday while informing that the IMF talks were close to completion.
Financial experts also said the Saudi package would not impact the IMF program which called for greater monetary discipline.
“The Saudi package will support Pakistan’s falling foreign exchange reserves that are down from $20 billion to $17 billion,” Muhammad Sohail, chief executive officer of Topline Securities, told Arab New. “The country’s national currency will also stabilize after falling more than 10 percent in the last few weeks.”
On Thursday, the Pakistani rupee closed at Rs172.26 against the US dollar after touching historic low of Rs175.27 on Tuesday.
The rupee also appreciated in the open market where it was trading at Rs172.73 on Thursday.
“The announcement of the Saudi financial support has strengthened the rupee,” Zafar Parachi, general secretary of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan, commented. “With the Saudi support package and a positive outcome of the IMF talks, the rupee may appreciate to Rs160, if the government does not devalue the currency.”
The equity market of the country also celebrated the Saudi package, with the benchmark KSE100 index recovering 762 points in the last two trading sessions.
“The Saudi support is timely and has exerted a positive impact on the stock market,” Abdul Azeem, head of research at Spectrum Securities, told Arab News. “The $1.2 billion of deferred oil payment facility will also provide some breathing space to the government amid inflating energy import bill.”
Pakistan’s currency and equity markets celebrate Saudi financial assistance with bullish sentiment
https://arab.news/4ac4z
Pakistan’s currency and equity markets celebrate Saudi financial assistance with bullish sentiment
- The country’s national currency recovered by 1.7 percent against the US dollar in the last two trading sessions
- Experts say Saudi financial support of $4.2 billion will help Pakistan manage its rising import bill
‘Look ahead or look up?’: Pakistan’s police face new challenge as militants take to drone warfare
- Officials say militants are using weapons and equipment left behind after allied forces withdrew from Afghanistan
- Police in northwest Pakistan say electronic jammers have helped repel more than 300 drone attacks since mid-2025
BANNU, Pakistan: On a quiet morning last July, Constable Hazrat Ali had just finished his prayers at the Miryan police station in Pakistan’s volatile northwest when the shouting began.
His colleagues in Bannu district spotted a small speck in the sky. Before Ali could take cover, an explosion tore through the compound behind him. It was not a mortar or a suicide vest, but an improvised explosive dropped from a drone.
“Now should we look ahead or look up [to sky]?” said Ali, who was wounded again in a second drone strike during an operation against militants last month. He still carries shrapnel scars on his back, hand and foot, physical reminders of how the battlefield has shifted upward.
For police in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the fight against militancy has become a three-dimensional conflict. Pakistani officials say armed groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), are increasingly deploying commercial drones modified to drop explosives, alongside other weapons they say were acquired after the US military withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.
Security analysts say the trend mirrors a wider global pattern, where low-cost, commercially available drones are being repurposed by non-state actors from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, challenging traditional policing and counterinsurgency tactics.
The escalation comes as militant violence has surged across Pakistan. Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) reported a 73 percent rise in combat-related deaths in 2025, with fatalities climbing to 3,387 from 1,950 a year earlier. Militants have increasingly shifted operations from northern tribal belts to southern KP districts such as Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan.
“Bannu is an important town of southern KP, and we are feeling the heat,” said Sajjad Khan, the region’s police chief. “There has been an enormous increase in the number of incidents of terrorism… It is a mix of local militants and Afghan militants.”
In 2025 alone, Bannu police recorded 134 attacks on stations, checkpoints and personnel. At least 27 police officers were killed, while authorities say 53 militants died in the clashes. Many assaults involved coordinated, multi-pronged attacks using heavy weapons.
Drones have also added a new layer of danger. What began as reconnaissance tools have been weaponized with improvised devices that rely on gravity rather than guidance systems.
“Earlier, they used to drop [explosives] in bottles. After that, they started cutting pipes for this purpose,” said Jamshed Khan, head of the regional bomb disposal unit. “Now we have encountered a new type: a pistol hand grenade.”
When dropped from above, he explained, a metal pin ignites the charge on impact.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Raza Khan, who narrowly survived a drone strike during construction at a checkpoint, described devices packed with nails, bullets and metal fragments.
“They attach a shuttlecock-like piece on top. When they drop it from a height, its direction remains straight toward the ground,” he said.
TARGETING CIVILIANS
Officials say militants’ rapid adoption of drone technology has been fueled by access to equipment on informal markets, while police procurement remains slower.
“It is easy for militants to get such things,” Sajjad Khan said. “And for us, I mean, we have to go through certain process and procedures as per rules.”
That imbalance began to shift in mid-2025, when authorities deployed electronic anti-drone systems in the region. Before that, officers relied on snipers or improvised nets strung over police compounds.
“Initially, when we did not have that anti-drone system, their strikes were effective,” the police chief said, adding that more than 300 attempted drone attacks have since been repelled or electronically disrupted. “That was a decisive moment.”
Police say militants have also targeted civilians, killing nine people in drone attacks this year, often in communities accused of cooperating with authorities. Several police stations suffered structural damage.
Bannu’s location as a gateway between Pakistan and Afghanistan has made it a security flashpoint since colonial times. But officials say the aerial dimension of the conflict has placed unprecedented strain on local forces.
For constables like Hazrat Ali, new technology offers some protection, but resolve remains central.
“Nowadays, they have ammunition and all kinds of the most modern weapons. They also have large drones,” he said. “When we fight them, we fight with our courage and determination.”
