Saudi Development Fund (SDF) asked to study the increasing amount of deposit in favor of SBP to reach the ceiling of $5 billion
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, has instructed to study increasing KSA’s investment in Pakistan, which was previously announced on August 25, 2022, to reach $10 billion, reported the Tuesday the Saudi Press news agency.
“The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia also directed the Saudi Development Fund (SDF) to study increasing the deposit amount provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in favor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which was previously extended to December 2. In 2022, to touch the ceiling of $5 billion, confirming the position of the Kingdom supporting the economy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and its brotherly people,” the report said.
The development comes in the context of the existing communication between the Crown High Commissioner and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the report added.
On Monday, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir met Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman to discuss bilateral relations.
According to Saudi media, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received Pakistan Army Chief General Munir.
The Saudi crown prince also congratulated General Munir on becoming army chief of staff and agreed to strengthen bilateral relations.
During the meeting, it was also agreed to promote military and defense cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
At the Geneva conference on Monday, he supported Pakistan with Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announcing that a total of $8.57 billion was secured as pledges at the first plenary session of the day-long ‘International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan’ in Geneva on Monday. .
The second tranche was launched with Saudi Arabia pledging $1 billion and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank also pledging $1 billion, the information minister said in a separate tweet.
Major commitments made at the conference, co-chaired by Pakistan and the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, included $4.2 billion from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), $2 billion from the World Bank, 1.5 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), $1 billion from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and $1 billion from Saudi Arabia.
According to Pakistan’s Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework, which he officially presented during the conference, a total of $16.3 billion will be needed. The government of Pakistan intends to meet half of this amount with “domestic resources”, including its development budget and through public-private partnerships.
But he was looking to the international community to cover the rest, hoping the conference would generate significant pledges of support.
Last week, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said Saudi Arabia is “expected to boost its deposits in Pakistan in a few days”.
At a press conference, he said the reversal was “not unusual.”
“All the nations of the world choose to borrow new money to pay old liabilities or they choose rollover. We choose rollover of deposits,” Darr had said.