Islamabad June 17 2023: Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhamme Ishaq Dar on Saturday reaffirmed the firm resolve of the government to ensure international payments on time in order to fulfill all the commitments.
Addressing a press conference, he said that all the arrangements for due payment during the months of May and June were in place, which would also have no impact on foreign exchange reserves held with local commercial banks and State Bank of Pakistan.
The minister said that by the end of the current month (June), payments of two Chinese banks including $1 billion of China Development Bank and $300 million of Bank of China were due.
He said the adoption of formal payment process usually takes time and sometimes, it takes months, adding that to simplify the formal procedures, the Ministry of Finance initiated negotiations with both the banks and ask them to make payments before last week.
Ishaq Dar further informed that the government has paid $1 billion to China Development Bank and $300 million to Bank of China without any extra charges.
The payment to China Development Bank was made on June 12, 2023 and under the understanding between both countries, the Chinese banks will payback this amount to Pakistan on Friday, he added.
The minister said that another payment amounting to $300 million was also made on Friday, adding that this payment would also be received to Pakistan within next three to four days, he added.
The finance minister further said that all the arrangements for the payment of $1 billion, which was state-to-state payments between both countries, were also finalized and matters were in order.
