Pakistan has repaid $2bn to UAE, confirms SBP official

Pakistan has repaid $2 billion to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was due to mature by the end of this month, a central bank official confirmed on Saturday, as the country maintains its debt obligations.

The UAE had previously been rolling over the deposits on an annual basis.

“Pakistan has repaid $2 billion to the UAE,” Noor Ahmed, spokesperson at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), told Business Recorder.

The repayment comes as Pakistan targets foreign exchange reserves above $18 billion by June under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, which requires bilateral deposits to be rolled over.

Earlier this month, Pakistan also repaid $1.43 billion Eurobond maturing on April 8, 2026, dropping the foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to $15.08 billion during the week ended on April 10.

However, the $2 billion repayment to the UAE may not put pressure on the SBP’s FX reserves as the central bank has received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia this week.

Earlier, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb informed that Saudi Arabia has committed $3 billion in additional deposits, making the total Saudi deposits to $8 billion. He further stated that the existing $5 billion Saudi deposit would no longer remain subject to the earlier annual rollover arrangement and would instead be extended for three years.

The minister also reiterated the government’s commitment to maintaining reserves in line with its obligations to markets and under the IMF-supported programme, including the objective of achieving around $18 billion in reserves, equivalent to approximately 3.3 months of import cover, by the end of the fiscal year.