Pakistan Receives $500 Million from Chinese Bank

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday received $500 million from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), an inflow that will likely push the reserves held by the central bank to over $4 billion. The announcement was made by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Twitter who said that the bank has approved the rollover of the $1.3 billion facility which has been repaid by Pakistan to ICBC in recent months. The minister also highlighted that the facility will be disbursed in 3 installments. Addressing a press conference earlier in the day, the minister said that an amount of $500 million from the rollover of the $1.3 billion facility was expected soon. It is pertinent to mention here that on February 24 the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $3.814 billion.