Pakistan gets payment relief as UAE extends deadline over $2-billion loan

The United Arab Emirates has rolled over the pending payment of a $2 billion loan by Pakistan, amid a three-day visit of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qure­shi to the nation.
 
The payment relief, announced by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri in a Twitter post, comes days after the South Asian nation reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a resumption of a $6 billion bailout program.
 
Having averted a financial crisis just two years ago, Pakistan finds itself with little room for policy errors due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The central bank expects the economy will expand by around 3 per cent in the year to June, after a rare contraction in the previous 12 months.
 
Qureshi started a three-day official visit to the UAE on Saturday, while his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was due to arrive in the nation on Sunday, government officials said.

Pentagon: US continues to have dialogue with Pakistan on terrorism 

The US continues to have a dialogue with Pakistan on issues related to terrorism along the border with Afghanistan, the Pentagon has said. “I think it's helpful to remind that they too have suffered from terrorist attacks inside their country,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters at a news conference.