ISLAMABAD: Saudi ambassador Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki said on Monday the kingdom would support Pakistan, when asked about the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wanting external financing commitments from friendly countries fulfilled before it released bailout funds for the crisis-ridden South Asian nation.
Pakistan and the IMF have been negotiating since early February on an agreement that would release $1.1 billion to the cash-strapped, nuclear-armed country of 220 million people.
The funding is very critical for Pakistan to unlock other external financing avenues to avert a default on its obligations with its central bank reserves falling to as low as to cover hardly four weeks of imports.
The IMF has recently said an assurance from multilateral donors and bilateral partners like China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to fund a balance of payment gap was a prerequisite to securing the bailout deal.
“We will god willing support Pakistan,” the Saudi ambassador in Islamabad told reporters when asked about the IMF’s condition of securing external financing assurances from friendly nations.
“Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are like brothers, we always support Pakistan in critical situations … God willing, I hope we will be hearing good news.”
Pakistan has strong political, cultural, economic, and defense ties with Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is also home to more than 2.5 million Pakistani expatriates and serves as the largest source of remittances and oil supplies to Islamabad.
Longtime ally China has already rolled over a $2 billion loan on March 23, providing relief during the South Asian nation's acute balance of payment crisis.
