Sharif welcomed the signing of the oil import financing facility, the office said in a statement. Pakistan will receive the oil on deferred payment for one year, it said [GETTY]
Pakistan on Monday signed an agreement with the Saudi Fund for Development to defer a $1.2 billion payment on the country’s oil imports by one year, the country’s prime minister’s office said.
Pakistan’s state-run television showed the signing ceremony live ahead of a delegation of the fund led by its CEO, Sultan Bin Abdul Rehman Al Marshad, called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Sharif welcomed the signing of the oil import financing facility, the office said in a statement. Pakistan will receive the oil on deferred payment for one year, it said.
“This project will strengthen Pakistan’s economic resilience by securing a stable supply of petroleum products while reducing immediate fiscal burdens,” the prime minister’s office said.
It said the fund will provide an amount of $41 million for a water supply scheme to help access clean drinking water for 150,000 local people of a district in northwest Pakistan.
Petroleum products, mostly from Saudi Arabia, make up the major chunk of Pakistan’s import bill. The Saudi facility to defer the payment can help Islamabad boost its foreign reserves ahead of the first review of a $7 billion IMF bailout in March.
(Reuters)
