Pakistan Has requested China to provide an additional loan of 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion). This information was given in a media report released on Sunday. The cash-strapped country has already used the existing Chinese trade facility worth 30 billion yuan ($4.3 billion). A statement issued by the Finance Ministry late on Saturday night said that Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met China’s Vice Finance Minister Liao Min during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington and signed a currency swap agreement with him. Requested to increase the limit to 40 billion yuan.
Will China accept the request?
According to the report of the newspaper ‘Express Tribune’, if China accepts it, the total facility will reach about $ 5.7 billion. This is not the first time that Pakistan has requested to increase the loan limit. However, China has rejected all previous such requests. This latest request comes less than two weeks after China extended the existing $4.3 billion (30 billion yuan) facility for another three years. Pakistan and China had signed a currency swap agreement during the recent visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, extending Pakistan’s debt repayment period till 2027.
Slight increase in Pakistan’s treasury
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have increased in the week ending October 18. The currency reserves with the State Bank of Pakistan increased by 18 million dollars during this period. In this way the total currency reserves have reached 11 billion dollars.
