The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday received $700 million as proceeds of a loan from the China Development Bank (CDB), the development was confirmed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in a tweet.
The inflow will push the reserves held by the central bank close to $4 billion, up from the last recorded level of $3.259 billion on February 17 and significantly improve the country’s import cover.
Earlier in the week, the finance minister announced that the Board of China Development Bank has approved the facility of $700 million for Pakistan.
The reserves are likely to strengthen even more in the coming weeks as Pakistan is inching closer to the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which will not only unlock a loan tranche of $1.1 billion but will also result in financial assistance from friendly countries.