Saudi Arabia mulls increasing investments, deposits to Pakistan

10 January, 2023 07:03

Saudi Arabia mulls increasing investments, deposits to Pakistan "The number of pilgrims will return to what it was before the pandemic, without any age limit," Minister of Hajj and Umrah Tawfiq al-Rabiah told reporters in Riyadh. The pilgrimage -- one of five pillars of Islam, and which all able-bodied Muslims with the means are required to perform at least once -- is scheduled for June. In 2019, about 2.5 million people took part in the rituals. For the next two years numbers were drastically curtailed numbers due to the pandemic. In 2022, nearly 900,000 pilgrims, including some 780,000 from abroad, were welcomed to Islam's holiest cities of Mecca and Medina.

The Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) on Monday ordered the Saudi Development Fund to study increasing Saudi investments and deposits in Pakistan to $15 billion.

According to the KSA’s official news agency, the crown prince and premier MBS issued instructions to consider increasing the number of deposits in the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to $5 billion.The kingdom also plans to invest $10 billion in the country.

The Saudi news agency further said that the announcement comes after talks between Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and MBS.

Last year, Saudi Arabia had announced an investment of $1bn in Pakistan.

Last week, in what appears to be an alternative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Finance Minister Ishaq Dar expressed hope to receive a $3 billion second bailout from Saudi Arabia within days, vowing to raise money through the sale of assets to beef up the critically-low foreign exchange reserves.

At a joint press conference with the government’s economic team, Dar showed his commitment to the IMF programme but at the same time stressed that he would not take any steps that would put a burden on the people.

At the presser, he did not say categorically that the National Security Committee (NSC) clearly backed the IMF programme plan.

“God willing, in matters of days, Saudi Arabia will beef up reserves,” said Dar, while responding to a question whether there was any concrete commitment from any foreign nation to avoid the crisis.

Later on, he told The Express Tribune that Pakistan would receive $3 billion from the kingdom.

COAS in KSA

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir on Monday met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) at the winter camp in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, and reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries.

According to the Saudi Press Agency, the two leaders also discussed ways to enhance relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in addition to a number of issues of common concern.

The press agency also stated that the reception was attended by Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, minister of defense, and Dr Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, minister of state, member of the cabinet and the national security adviser.

Moreover, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ameer Khurram and a number of Pakistani officials also attended the reception.

The army chief embarked on his first trip to Saudi Arabia last week. The visit comes at a crucial juncture when Pakistan is facing yet another balance of payment crisis.

Aid pledged to Pakistan

Yesterday, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) pledged to finance an amount of 4.2 billion dollars over the next three years for the achievement of Pakistan’s climate resilience and development objectives while the US also assured of an additional $100 million.

A high-level delegation from Pakistan kicked off the International Conference on ‘Climate Resilient Pakistan’ in Geneva today, co-chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif along with UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres.

The daylong event gathered high-level representatives from dozens of countries, including several heads of state and government.

While not strictly a pledging conference, the UN and Pakistani representatives have said that it aimed to mobilise support as the country rebuilds after the floods that left more than 1,700 people dead and affected over 30 million others.

At the inaugural ceremony PM Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan needs $8 billion from its international partners over the next three years to rebuild the country that is reeling from last year’s devastating floods.