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ISLAMABAD, Feb 24 (PTI) Pakistan on Friday received a much-needed $700 million cash infusion from all-weather ally China to help its struggling economy ahead of the conclusion of financial aid talks with the International Monetary Fund.
Finance Minister Ishakh Dar, who announced earlier this week that Pakistan wanted help from China, confirmed on social media that the money had been transferred.
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“SBP received $700 million in funding from China Development Bank today,” Dar tweeted.
This prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Baz Sharif to express his gratitude to Pakistan’s “special friend”.
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“There is an ally Pakistan, we all thought they were waiting for the IMF deal and then they would play their part, but a few days ago that ally communicated to us ‘we are giving you [this financial help] Immediately, these things are never forgotten,” he said at a security conference.
The aid was provided even before negotiations with the IMF were concluded to restore the lifeline needed to avoid default, he said, adding that talks with the IMF would soon be successful.
Pakistan and the IMF have been holding virtual talks after 10 days of intensive talks between the two sides with an IMF delegation in Islamabad from Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, but failed to reach an agreement.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, which fell to an extremely low $2.9 billion a few weeks ago, are now close to $4 billion.
They will get a further boost once negotiations are successfully concluded and the IMF releases $1.1 billion.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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