ISLAMABAD: Foreign assistance to the country from July 2025 to January 2026 has reached USD 5.17 billion compared to the USD 4.58 billion of the corresponding period of last year, which reflects an increase of 12.77 percent.
According to data released by the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) on Wednesday, the multilateral and bilateral loans and grants in January 2026 remained USD 626 million compared to USD 1.47 billion in December 2025.
According to data in January 2026, the country has received USD104.11 million on account of bilateral loans and grants, of which USD 100 million in loan from Saudi Arabia. On account of multilateral loans in January a total USD133.33 was received of which the ADB provided a USD 56 million loan, the IRBD USD 30.59 million, the IDA USD 28.69 million, and the AIIB USD 13.78 million.
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In the July-January 2025-26, the total bilateral loans and grants stood at USD 931.88 million, of which USD 33.24 million stood as grants and USD 898.64 million as loans; whereas multilateral grants and loans amounted to USD 2.127 billion in the review period, of which USD 33.97 million stood as grants and USD 2.092 billion as loans.
A major amount of grants came from Japan (USD 15.33 million), followed by China (USD 10.57 million), Saudi Arabia (USD 3.31 million), and Germany (USD 2.79 million). In the seven months of 2025-26, the total bilateral loans amounted to USD 931.88 million. This includes Chinese guaranteed loans of USD 72.28 million and USD 72.28 million from China, USD 71.15 million from Denmark, USD 26.73 million from France, and a major loan of USD 708.70 million received from Saudi Arabia.
The total multilateral grant received during the July-January period amounted to USD 33.97 million. Of this, USD 18.96 million came from the IBRD, USD 9.86 million from the IDA, USD 2.72 million from IFAD, and USD 2.41 million from the Asian Development Bank.
The total multilateral loans in the same period reached USD 2.092 billion. The ADB was the top lender with USD 622.18 million, followed by the IDA with USD 598.22 million, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) short-term loan of USD 483.78 million, IBRD USD 240.01 million, IsDB USD56.13million, and IFAD provided USD 18.67 million. Pakistan also received USD144.42 million from SCB, London, and USD 209.51 million from the IMF.
Total disbursements in the July-January period against the Naya Pakistan Certificates (NPC) amounted to USD 1.488 billion, of which NPC Islamic amounted to USD 1.082 billion and NPC conventional amounted to USD 405.64 million.
The IMF lending facility under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) is not reflected in EAD or Ministry of Finance accounts, as it constitutes the balance of payment (BoP) support and is recorded on the balance sheet of the State Bank of Pakistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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