Karachi: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) on Wednesday granted fresh loans worth USD 1 billion to Pakistan — with the finances aimed at combating the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and for overcoming the country’s budget shortfall (particularly seen to affect health and other sectors), a news source reported. In this regard, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) received USD 500 million each from the two lenders.
The loans provided by the banks have also raised the SBP’s foreign currency reserves to USD 11 billion — which is worth nearly 4 months of import cover. This, in turn, has helped the Pakistani rupee recover nearly PKR 0.29, as it closed at PKR 167.36 per USD.
Reportedly, Pakistan is set to receive another tranche of USD 500 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The country had signed the concessionary loan agreements with the three international lenders last week.
There is no specific condition on Pakistan for the utilisation of these loans, although they are expected to be used to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and for the revival of the country’s economy.
