China’s EXIM Bank has rolled over principal payments of loans worth $2.4 billion for a period of two fiscal years, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday (July 27).
“Chinese EXIM Bank has rolled over for 2 years principal amounts of following loans totaling $2.4 billion which are due in next 2 fiscal years FY2023-24: $1.2 billion; FY2024-25: $1.2 billion,” Dar said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Pakistan will make interest payments only over the next two years, he said.
The development was reported days after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that China had rolled over a $600 million loan to Pakistan in a move aimed at helping shore up the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
This was in addition to over $5 billion in loans that longtime ally China had rolled over for Pakistan in the last three months, the prime minister had said.
The IMF’s board approved a $3 billion Standby Arrangement for Pakistan on June 30, with $1.2 billion being released initially.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose to the highest level in nine months at $8.7 billion as of July 14 following financial support from the bilateral and multilateral partners.