Pakistan urges Saudi not to withdraw deposits, wants oil facility extended

Pakistan has requested Saudi Arabia not to withdraw its deposits given to its central bank and extend its oil facility for the cash-strapped country.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail while addressing a press conference in Karachi on Wednesday said Islamabad had requested Riyadh, which is considering rolling over dollar deposits as Islamabad looks to rein in one of Asia's highest inflation rates and stave off a current-account crisis, to extend an oil loan facility to Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia is discussing options including extending the term of a USD3 billion deposit with the State Bank of Pakistan, according to a joint statement issued after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's recent meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Kingdom has also agreed to provide a "sizable package" of $8 billion to aid the debt-ridden economy, which has taken billions of dollars in loans from the likes of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, China, and Saudi Arabia.

The Express Tribune reported that the Finance Minister lamented former Prime Minister Imran Khan's government for making promises to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which were "against the interests of the nation".

"Those promises are no less than landmines," he told the media, adding that Khan had left the fastest growing inflation in the history of Pakistan.