With Pakistan set to begin review talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government has requested Saudi Arabia to provide a $1 billion oil facility on deferred payment for the calendar year 2024, reported The News on Wednesday.
“Pakistan has made a formal request for $1 billion Saudi Oil Facility (SOF) on deferred payment with effect from January 2024. The KSA has not yet given its confirmation, and its exact modalities will be worked out within the next couple of months, including attached cost and other terms and conditions,” sources told the publication.
The facility is part of the financing plan agreed upon and worked out with the IMF by Pakistani authorities as part of the $3 billion Standby Arrangement.
The existing facility will expire in December of this year.
So far, Islamabad has received $300 million during the last three months (July–September) of the current fiscal year.
Under the existing SOF, KSA had made a total disbursement of $700 million from March to September 2023, and it was hoped that another $300 million might be disbursed by the end of December 2023.
