Saudi Arabia deposits $2 billion with Pakistan: Ishaq Dar

(Web Desk) ISLAMABAD – Tuesday saw the announcement by Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that the country had received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia. This was a significant event considering that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been urging Pakistan to find external finance to cover the country’s needs for the current fiscal year.

Dar said in a tweet that the sum had been deposited with the SBP, increasing foreign reserves, which will be reported in the data for the week ending July 14.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has received deposit of $2 billion from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This inflow has increased the forex reserves held by SBP and will accordingly be reflected in the forex reserves for the week ending 14July2023.

— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) July 11, 2023

He expressed gratitude to the Saudi government for “their great gesture and support” on behalf of Pakistan’s people, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The government had hoped to attract billions of dollars in investments from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations into the country’s food and agricultural industries, the prime minister had said earlier in the day.

He said in a tweet that the GCC nations import $40 billion worth of food and agricultural goods every year.

Shehbaz said that the action will be carried out under the Special Investment Facilitation Council’s (SIFC) supervision, for which the necessary preparations had been made.

At the National Seminar on Agriculture & Food Security yesterday, I stressed the importance of revitalizing agriculture as a harbinger of the second Green Revolution. We have all along heard about high-sounding & lofty visions but without hard work, perseverance & diligence, they…

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) July 11, 2023

He said that roughly $40 billion would be invested over the next four to five years in addition to the production of four million new employment.

The prime minister noted that he underlined the need of renewing agriculture as a forerunner of the second Green Revolution at the national symposium on agriculture and food security conducted on Monday.

“The second Green Revolution is about making agriculture the major driver of our economic growth, leading to food security that reinforces our national security,” he said.

According to him, the seminar wasn’t just a typical gathering for rhetorical flourishes; rather, it marked the start of a long overdue national initiative for the ownership of all stakeholders’ economic recovery of the nation.

In the future, he stated, “loans hold the promise of being replaced by the construction of a resilient economy that stands on its internal strengths.”

“We will accomplish it together.”