Foreign assistance to Pakistan hits $4.51 billion in first half of 2025-26

ISLAMABAD: Foreign assistance to the country in the first half of 2025-26 reached USD 4.51 billion registering an increase of 20 percent compared to the corresponding period of last year.

According to data released by the Economic Affairs Division, the multilateral and bilateral loans and grants December remained USD 1.47 billion compared to just USD 511.49 million in the previous month of November.

In the July-December 2025-26, the total bilateral loans and grants stood at USD1.07 billion; whereas multilateral grants and loans amounted to USD1.97 billion in the period in review.

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In the July-December period, the total bilateral grants amounted to USD31.68 million. A major amount of grants came from Japan (USD 11.86 million), followed by China (USD10.57 million) and Saudi Arabia (USD3.31 million).

In six months of 2025-26, the total bilateral loans amounted to USD 1.04 billion. This includes Chinese guaranteed loans of USD255.6 million and USD72.28 million from China, USD71.15 million from Denmark, USD15.61 million from France, and a major loan of USD600 million received from Saudi Arabia under the oil facility to Pakistan.

The total multilateral grant received during the July-December period amounted to USD28.95 million. Out of this USD 15.40 million came from IBRD, USD8.18 million from the IDA, USD2.72 million from IFAD and USD265 million from the Asian Development Bank.

The total multilateral loans in the same period reached USD1.97 billion. The IDA was the top lender USD580.77 million followed by the Asian Development Bank with USD549.24 million, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) short-term loan ofUSD483.78 million, IBRD USD221.73 million, IsDB USD 52.49 million, and IFAD provided USD21.39 million.

The financial year 2025-26 budget estimates for multilateral and bilateral grants are USD147.93 million, with multilateral and bilateral loans are projected at USD 6.4 billion. Disbursements against the Naya Pakistan Certificates in the July-December period amounted to USD 1.2 billion.

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.

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