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Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Muhammad Bin Salman's official visit to Pakistan has reportedly been postponed, ARY News reported citing a Foreign Ministry official.
The Saudi Prince was scheduled to visit Pakistan on November 21. The reason for postponement has not been specified. Pakistan's government was optimistic about the Saudi Crown Prince's visit despite the political turmoil in the country. According to ARY citing the sources, Crown Prince will directly visit Indonesia to attend G20 Summit. Earlier, Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari paid a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia to give the final touches to arrangements for the Saudi Crown Prince's visit to Pakistan. But all those efforts seem to be in vain. According to diplomatic sources, the Saudi PM was expected to announce an additional bailout package of USD 4.2 billion for Pakistan. Earlier, last week, Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that Saudi Arabia will provide an additional amount of USD 4.2 billion to Pakistan, Geo News reported. "China and Saudi Arabia have given assurances to Pakistani delegations under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during recent visits that they will take care of Islamabad's financial requirements till June 2023. Now the real effective exchange rate (REER) in terms of rupee against the US dollar has come down to Rs 190 against the US dollar and no one will be allowed to play with our exchange rate," said Dar. Both financial packages will ease the struggling economy of Pakistan as the foreign currency reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan stand at USD 8.9 billion at the moment, reported Geo News. Sharing details about the outcome of Saudi Arabia's visit, the minister said that they also assured to consider Pakistan's request for an additional USD 3 billion in deposits and jacking up the oil facility on deferred payment by an additional USD 1.2 billion. Besides, an additional amount of USD 4.2 billion would be considered by Saudi Arabian authorities, reported Geo News. He said that Saudi Arabia would also roll over existing deposits of USD 3 billion and their oil facility of USD 1.2 billion on deferred payment (USD100 million on monthly basis) would continue till June 2023. Therefore, the total Saudi package is expected to touch USD 8.4 billion. To another query, the minister said that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman is going to visit Pakistan within the ongoing month, reported Geo News. (ANI)
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