Pakistan receives $2 billion from Saudi Arabia: SBP

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday that the country has received $2 billion from the Ministry of Finance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in a post on X.

The central bank said the funds were received “on the value date of April 15, 2026.”

The news comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia for the first part of his three-nation tour amid ongoing active negotiating efforts for peace in the Middle East.

The development came on the heels of Saudi Arabia’s decision to extend another financial rescue package to Pakistan, aimed at helping the country meet its external financing needs in line with the requirements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia has committed $3 billion in additional deposits, with disbursement expected next week. He further stated that the current $5 billion Saudi deposit would no longer be subject to the previous annual renewal agreement and would instead be extended for a longer period.

Read: Saudi largesse plugs Pakistan’s sudden reserve hole

With the new loan, Saudi Arabia has become the largest country to have placed a total of $8 billion in cash deposits with the central bank. A $3.5 billion hole has emerged in gross official foreign exchange reserves after the United Arab Emirates failed to refinance its $3.5 billion debt despite making commitments to the IMF.

Pakistan expects a total of $5 billion in new financial assistance from friendly countries to maintain reserves at their current levels.

Aurangzeb said the government remained committed to maintaining reserves in line with its obligations under the IMF, including the goal of reaching around $18 billion in reserves, equivalent to about 3.3 months of import cover, by the end of the fiscal year.

Additional IMF loan

Government sources said The express PAkGazette that it had been decided to seek an additional loan from the IMF under the existing package and that there was a good chance that the IMF would honor Pakistan’s request.

The IMF managing director has said her organization was expecting $50 billion in funding requests from member countries to deal with the shocks of war in the Middle East.

Sources said IMF executive directors were also urging the Fund’s management to increase existing programs or provide new financing windows. They added that it may not be possible to seek a new line of financing from the IMF, but the existing program can be expanded with additional loans.

Pakistan can avail up to 600% of its quota in the IMF and has so far exhausted 350% of the total quota. Sources said there was a window available of between $2 billion and $2.5 billion, which Pakistan wanted to use to deal with the effects of the war in the Middle East.

Sources said Pakistan was eligible to avail additional financing from the IMF to cope with the shocks of the war. They said there was a good chance that the IMF would accept Pakistan’s request to increase the size of the loan.

Extending a loan to Pakistan to cope with the impact of the war would not be a favour, but would help the country tide over the crisis, sources said.

With 600% quota, Pakistan can avail a total loan of $16 billion and has exhausted $9.5 billion. This makes a strong case for an increase under the current Expanded Fund Facility (ESAF) programme.