ISLAMABAD: Foreign assistance inflows to the country reached USD 5.862 billion between July 2025 and February 2026, up from USD 4.953 billion during the same period last year, showing an increase of 18.35 percent.
According to data released by the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) here on Wednesday, the multilateral and bilateral loans and grants in February 2026 remained USD 692 million compared to USD 625.7 million in January 2026.
According to the data, in February 2026, the country received a total of USD 106.33 million on account of bilateral loans and grants, of which USD 101.98 million was a loan from Saudi Arabia and USD 3.87 million from Japan. On account of multilateral loans, in February, Pakistan received a total of USD 246.94 million loans, of which ADB provided a USD 38.18 million loan, IRBD USD91.88 million, IDA USD 113.95 million, and AIIB USD 3.16 million.
In the July-February 2025-26, the total bilateral loans and grants stood at USD 1.038 billion, of which USD 36.38 million stood as grants and USD 1.001 billion as loans; whereas multilateral grants and loans amounted to USD 2.373 billion during the period under review, of which USD 54.01 million stood as grants and USD 2.319 billion as loans.
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A major amount of grants came from Japan (USD 18.10 million), followed by China (USD 10.57 million), Saudi Arabia (USD 3.31 million), and Germany (USD 3.16 million). In eight months of 2025-26, the total bilateral loans amounted to USD 1.001 billion.
This includes Chinese guaranteed loans of USD 269.42 million and a USD 61.71 million loan from China, USD 71.15 million from Denmark, USD 25.97 million from France, and a major loan of USD 708.46 million received from Saudi Arabia.
The total multilateral grant received during the July-February period amounted to USD 54.01 million. Of this USD 26.03 million came from the IBRD, USD 10.76 million from the IDA, USD 2.72 million from the IFAD, and USD 14.50 million from the Asian Development Bank.
The total multilateral loans in the same period reached USD 2.319 billion. The ADB was the top lender, with USD 648.25 million, followed by the IDA with USD 711.27 million, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) short-term loan of USD 483.78 million, the IBRD USD 324.64 million, IsDB USD 56.13million, the AIIB USD 76.11 million, and the IFAD provided USD 18.67 million. Pakistan also received USD 144.42 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 1.77 billion, of which NPC Islamic amounted to USD 1.277 billion and NPC conventional amounted to USD 492.29 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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