The total foreign loans acquired by the government rose to $8.837 billion in April showing a rise of $2.997 billion from March.
It should be noted that this figure does not include $6 billion loans from friendly countries – $3 billion each from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (with $1 billion yet to be disbursed).
Total foreign loans acquired during July 2018 – April 2019 are $14.837 billion, 45 percent higher than the same period last year.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government borrowed $76.05 million from foreign commercial banks in April, bringing the total to $3.183 billion under this head in the current fiscal year (July-April) 2018-19, compared to $2.922 billion during the same period of last year.
According to the latest data of Economic Affairs Division (EAD) the country provisionally received over $8.837 billion of foreign assistance in the first ten months (July-April) of current financial year 2018-19, with loans from friendly countries not included, against $9.6 billion during the same period of last year (2017-18), showing a reduction of about 8 percent.
The EAD data for April reflects $2 billion under the China Safe deposit loan though it was acquired before April. The PML-N government had budgeted foreign assistance of $9.69 billion for 2018-19 including a $394.34 million grant and $9.297 billion loans, as shown in the EAD data.
The country received $11.486 billion against the budgeted assistance of $8.094 billion for 2017-18 including $3.716 billion from foreign commercial banks. According to the latest figures, the country provisionally received $330.52 million including $321.56 million loans and $8.96 million grants in April.
The country received $3.653 billion from bilaterals including China $1.999 billion, the UK $80.40 million, USA $63.82 million, France $66.57 million, Saudi Arabia $24.11 million, Germany $14.50 million and Japan $62.10 million.
According to the EAD report, the country received $8.619 billion in loans and $218.09 million grants.
The previous government had budgeted $2 billion from foreign commercial banks for 2018-19, but borrowing under this head reached $3.183 billion in April.
China Development Bank disbursed $2.234 billion, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) $300 million, the Suisse AG, UBL and ABL consortium $295 million, Dubai Bank 184.44 million, Ajman Bank $150.09 million and Noor Bank $20 million during the current fiscal year (July-April).
Multilaterals disbursed $1.338 billion during the first ten months of the current fiscal year including Asian Development Bank (ADB) $406.77 million, IDB (S-Term) $572.37 million, International Development Association (IDA) $205.89 million, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) $17.53 million, IBRD $44.11 million and Islamic Development Bank (IDB) $5.80 million.
