Foreign assistance: Pakistan secures $2.29bn in first four months of FY26
- To keep foreign exchange reserves at a comfortable level, Pakistan held $9 billion as a term deposit
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received a total amount of USD 2.29 billion in foreign assistance during the first four months of fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26), which includes bilateral and multilateral loans and grants, as well as investments in the Naya Pakistan Certificates.
The statistics released by the Economic Affairs Division show that during the July-October period of FY26, total multilateral grants stood at USD26.80 million, whereas the total amount of grants reached USD5.27 million in October alone. In four months of FY26, the highest amount of grant came from the IBRD, USD15.40 million, IDA USD 8.18 million and from IFAD USD 2.72 million.
During the July-October FY26 period, the disbursement of multilateral loans reached USD1.11 billion. Whereas the multilateral loans in October amounted to USD169.5 million. In four months of FY26, IsDB provided a short-term loan of USD361 million and a long-term loan of USD50 million, IDA provided USD 304 million, IBRD provided USD173.74 million, ADB provided USD167.4 million, AIIB provided USD41.35 million, and IFAD provided USD 10 million. Alone in October, the disbursement of multilateral loans reached USD169.5 million.
Loans, grants & NPC: Q1 foreign aid totals USD1.82bn: EAD
The country received a bilateral grant of USD23.76 million, whereas in October, the grant amount was USD 4.12 million. Major bilateral grants came from China, USD 9.75 million, Japan, USD 9.69 million and Germany, USD 3.56 million.
The total bilateral loan during the July-October FY26 period remained USD 449.90 million, of which a major component was the Saudi Oil Facility with USD 400 million. Apart from this bilateral loan of USD 9.75 million received from China, USD 15.61 million from France, USD 6.69 million from Japan, USD 6.55 million from South Korea, and USD 3.56 million from Germany. The combined multilateral and bilateral grants stood at USD 50.56 million, while loan disbursements totalled USD 1.78 billion in the same period.
The FY26 budget estimates for multilateral grants are USD63.72 million, with loans projected at USD 5.04 billion. Disbursements against the Naya Pakistan Certificates in the July-October period amounted to USD 541.57 million, against a total FY26 budget estimate of USD 734 million.
To keep foreign exchange reserves at a comfortable level, Pakistan held USD 9 billion as a term deposit. Out of which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia provided USD 5 billion, and China Safe Deposit of USD 4 billion.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025