SBP gets $2.3bn Chinese loan.

KARACHI -- Finally, the government succeeded to get rollover the Chinese loan of $2.3 billion and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) received the amount in its account on Friday.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail tweeted he was pleased to announce that Chinese Consortium loan of RMB15bn (roughly $2.3bn) has been credited into SBP account, increasing foreign exchange reserves.

With the inflows of $2.3bn Chinese loan the total SBP reserves entered double digit to touch $10.5bn.

Earlier on April 1, the rupee plunged to a historic low of Rs183.70 against US dollar in the interbank market after the SBP reported a massive outflow of $2.9bn. The SBP announced its foreign exchange reserves dropped to $12.047bn during the week ending on March 25 due to a major repayment of Chinese loans, while the rest was regular debt servicing.

The SBP said the decline was due to repayment of external debt, including a major syndicated loan facility from China, while the rollover of this syndicated facility was being processed and was expected shortly. The bank expected that the amount would come back in the reserves after completion of the rollover process in April.

The then foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was in China, said his Chinese counterpart had assured him that Beijing had agreed in principle for granting rollover of $2.3bn in commercial loans to Pakistan.

China stopped rollover of the promised loan after the ouster of the...

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