Saudi Arabia expected to beef up its deposits in Pakistan: Ishaq Dar

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar stated on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia “is expected to beef up its deposits in Pakistan in a few days".

In a press conference, he said that a rollover “is not an unusual thing".

"All nations of the world opt for borrowing new money to pay old liabilities or they opt for rollover. We are opting for rolling over of deposits,” said Dar.

Pakistan seeking $4.2bn from Saudi Arabia: reports

He stated that Pakistan’s reserves were "pure till 2018 and no other country had deposits in Pakistan" at that time.

He hoped that the government will complete the ninth review of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme that will pave way for Pakistan to receive the next tranche of the loan.

Despite gloomy economic conditions and approaching deadlines for loan repayments, the finance minister brushed off the threat of default.

“Pakistan will meet all its international obligations,” he said.

Pakistan expects multibillion-dollar support from Saudi Arabia: sources

It is pertinent to mention that foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell another $294 million to a highly critical level of $5.82 billion, data showed last week. This is the lowest level of SBP-held reserves since April 2014.

Meanwhile, the finance minister stated that the white paper, released by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf a day ago, was deceiving and most of the macroeconomic figures were wrong.

He criticised the PTI for "deceiving" the masses through its "White Paper" on the economy.

The finance minister said the economy was in a "better condition" during Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's government (PML-N) compared to PTI's four-year tenure.

In its document, PTI painted a gloomy picture of the economy and said that inflation in the country has seen a sharp rise in the past eight months.