Saudi Arabia loans Pakistan $1.5 billion On a personal guarantee of the PM Nawaz Shahrief

[rockstar08]

Even better, 20'000 troops in KSA means 20'000 jobs.
We already have billions coming from KSA in shape of remittances. Godforbid, imagine if there is slight political instability in KSA or we loose our diplomatic position and lots of Pakistanis got kicked out, we'll loose all the remittances and our rupee would hit 200=1$
What will follow, is everyone's own imagination.

you have a point bro but this matter is not as clean as it looks , lots of smoke is yet to be clear

 

[Jango]

Hum Kashkol tor dain gay!

 

[Scorpion666]

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia loaned $1.5 billion to Pakistan last month to help Islamabad shore up its foreign exchange reserves, meet debt-service obligations and undertake large energy and infrastructure projects, Pakistani officials have told Reuters.

The Saudi assistance has contributed to a sharp recovery of the Pakistani rupee, which rose to a nine-month high of 97.40 from 105.40 against the dollar between March 4 and 12, its strongest rally in 30 years.

“On a personal guarantee of the prime minister, Saudi Arabia has given $1.5 billion, which has helped bail out the rupee,” one senior Pakistani government official close to the deal told Reuters, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to disclose the source and purpose of the funding.

The governor of the Saudi central bank declined to comment, and officials gave no details of the loan terms.

Another top official who is based in Lahore said the money went into an account known as the Pakistan Development Fund set up to channel money from “friendly countries” like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

“We have a promise of a total $3 billion, of which $1.5 billion has been received so far,” the second official said. “Most recently, we got $750 million from the Saudis.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has long enjoyed close relations with the Saudi royal family. After his second term as prime minister was ended by a military coup in 1999, he was sent into exile in Saudi Arabia.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi financier and member of the House of Saud, has described Sharif as “Saudi Arabia''s man in Pakistan”.

Pakistani Finance Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed on Wednesday that $1.5 billion was received under the development fund but declined to comment on the source.

“Why do you want to expose our friends?” he told reporters. “The countries who have helped us don''t want us to disclose the source.”

NEW FUND

Dar announced the creation of the new fund on Feb 18, the same day Saudi crown prince and deputy prime minister Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud concluded a three-day-visit to Pakistan.

Pakistan''s new army chief, General Raheel Sharif, also met King Abdullah and top Saudi military commanders during a trip to the kingdom two weeks before the new account was set up.

Other high-profile Saudi visitors to Pakistan this year have included Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal and Prince Salman bin Sultan, the country''s deputy defence minister.

According to the finance ministry, gross official reserves - including the latest injection of $1.5 billion - stood at $9.52 billion on March 11. A third loan tranche of $550 million from the International Monetary Fund, expected before the end of March, will push reserves close to $10 billion.

Pakistan is expected to receive $150 million from the Islamic Development Bank in March, as well as $150-200 million under the Coalition Support Fund, reimbursements for assistance in the U.S.-led coalition''s Afghanistan war effort.

Pakistan will also launch eurobonds of $500 million in May and plans to raise billions of dollars in privatisation revenue by June.

An increase in foreign investment and remittances by overseas Pakistanis have also helped lift the rupee. Remittances increased by 11 percent to $10.2 billion during the first eight months of this fiscal year.

The finance ministry has also attributed the currency's recovery to punitive action against exporters withholding export receipts abroad and warnings to foreign exchange speculators.
Saudi Arabia loaned Pakistan $1.5bn to shore up economy - DAWN.COM


What a beggar politicians .....PM personal guarantee .....what a shame, means PM will make sure money should be returned to KSA. Otherwise even KSA administration don't trust Pak govt officials.

more money for Ganju brothers to stash in swiss accounts.....
partition has changes very little for us....looters on both sides of the border !!!.... and we cry religion !!

 

[Manindra]

Pakistanis, don't return this loan. $1.5 billion would be deducted from Nawaz Sharif's coffer

 

[Shardul.....the lion]

so its 1.5 billion per nuke or per 10 nukes

what is secret deal.... syria/shia killing what is deal....

 

[Halimi]

Seems to me the reaction here is generally positive. What is the feeling on the street?

I personally believe it's in Pakistan's best interests to have as good an economic and military relationship with Saudi Arabia as possible. Clearly the Saudis are no longer willing to put all or most of their confidence in the US, particularly after Obama failed to enforce his red line and demonstrated his willingness to engage with Iran. I believe Pakistan can help fill that security vacuum and benefit from Saudi investments and strategic coordination.

Agree/disagree?

 

[Informant]

Hum Kashkol tor dain gay!

Tuttna kadi nayii!

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

What do the Ayatullah's have to do with this?
Or is this a game, that Iran has to keep paying Pakistan or Saudi Arabia wins Pakistan's allegiance because Pakistan cannot take care of its own finances?

I think he was referring to the gas-pipline project, where Iran gave its word to build it up, but later backed down.

Shame ._. that pipeline could have gone from Iran to India passing through Pakistan..

 

[Contrarian]

I think he was referring to the gas-pipline project, where Iran gave its word to build it up, but later backed down.

I think Iran only offered to pay the Pakistani's a loan only because Pakistan was defaulting on its own agreements. The earlier agreement was that Iran would build the pipeline in its own territory and Pakistan in its own. Pakistan due to financial reasons was not able to build on its side.

Shame ._. that pipeline could have gone from Iran to India passing through Pakistan..

Not possible at all, for a variety of reasons.
1. India buys gas at substantially low prices from Qatar and others compared to Pakistan. India buys massive amounts and is able to leverage that to reduce prices to levels that Pakistan does not get.

2. Iran was offering gas at a price which was unacceptably high to India, but was still better than what Pakistan was getting from international suppliers. As it turned out India was right. Iran was using a formula for gas pricing which did not take into account ground realities of plummeting gas price. They wanted to use an old formula to get more profit. Somehow Pakistan never saw this when we tried to explain this to them.

They agreed after 2 years when what we said came true

3. It makes no sense for India to spend billions on a pipeline if India is not able to get the gas at cheap rates.
4. There is zero guarentee of safety of supplies if the pipeline passes through Pakistan. Pakistan's sovereign guarentee is not worth the paper it is written on. The pipeline was almost sure to be bombed very frequently in Balochistan.
5. In case of hostilities between India and Pakistan, Pakistan would be in a position to block gas supply. An unacceptable risk.

Lastly
6. US offered the nuclear deal in exchange for giving up the IPI line. The nuclear deal as you know, is a game changer in how India deals with the world. It was too good an offer to let go.


Now, India is open to an undersea gas pipeline with Iran. The main issue is pricing. If that works out, then it would go ahead.

 

[HRK]

Its a good deal or a bad deal is yet to be seen in economic sense but unfortunately most of the poster (even senior members) are analysing it in context of domestic politics & in this wake they are maligning our International friends.

As per the Chairman of Privitization commission of Pakistan Muhammad Zubair it is a grant for infrastructure development which is quit evident by the set-up of PDF (Pakistan Development Fund) and these fund are received in that account, most importantly these funds provided the much needed breathing space to the economy. it is same as Pervaiz Musharaf availed the facility of Loans rescheduling from Paris Clube Members, due to which we manage to bring the stability in the economy during Musharaf tenure, resulted 8% GDP growth & stable exchange rate.

'If' Nawaz government use these funds sensibly for the stated purpose these $ 3 billion will prove to be the initial investment into the future of Pakistan ......

A humble request to all Pakistani members 'National Interest' are more important than political interest, draw your own conclusion, do not take the words of every so called political or economical analyst who appear in talkshows, seriously.

 

[flankerX]

Seems to me the reaction here is generally positive. What is the feeling on the street?

I personally believe it's in Pakistan's best interests to have as good an economic and military relationship with Saudi Arabia as possible. Clearly the Saudis are no longer willing to put all or most of their confidence in the US, particularly after Obama failed to enforce his red line and demonstrated his willingness to engage with Iran. I believe Pakistan can help fill that security vacuum and benefit from Saudi investments and strategic coordination.

Agree/disagree?

Agree....

 

[Chak Bamu]

Thank you KSA.

But in the long run our interests lie with democracy and institution building, not personal rule.

Provision of money upon NS's personal guarantee is meant to improve his image. That is why this news is leaked in this way. Its quite obvious that KSA wants to see NS in power for more than one term.

 

[SBD-3]

 

[Cherokee]

I think he was referring to the gas-pipline project, where Iran gave its word to build it up, but later backed down.

Shame ._. that pipeline could have gone from Iran to India passing through Pakistan..

Its coming Via oman to us now . Everyone's Happ y.

 

[Khan_patriot]

The loan was taken and we will pay the price for it, I guess the benefit of taking the loan outweighed the price to be paid...