ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia has sent $2 billion to Pakistan’s central bank, the South Asian nation’s finance minister said on Tuesday, another boost for its ailing economy after an IMF bailout.
“I thank Saudi Arabia on behalf of the prime minister and army chief,” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said in a recorded video statement.
Saudi Arabia pledged the money and then waited for the aid package from the International Monetary Fund to go ahead before depositing it with the State Bank of Pakistan.
The financial support will help to shore up the central bank’s depleted foreign exchange reserves, which had dipped to cover barely a month of controlled imports.
Islamabad secured a last-gasp $3 billion IMF bailout on the last day of June.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Tom Hogue)
