Islamabad: Pakistan has presented eight key economic requests to Saudi Arabia aimed at strengthening long term economic cooperation, including converting the existing 5 billion dollar deposit into a 10 year long term financial facility.
According to official sources, Pakistan has requested the Saudi government to convert the current short term 5 billion dollar deposit held in the State Bank into a long term facility lasting ten years in order to support economic stability.
Pakistan has also asked for the deferred oil payment facility to be increased from the current 1.2 billion dollars to 5 billion dollars along with an extension in the duration of the facility.
Sources further said that Pakistan has proposed securitizing remittances from overseas Pakistanis worth nearly 10 billion dollars and also presented several other economic cooperation proposals to Saudi authorities.
Officials added that Pakistan is facing economic pressure due to the current geopolitical tensions and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, prompting efforts to strengthen long term financial cooperation with Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is also negotiating with the International Monetary Fund to complete the third review of its 7 billion dollar Extended Fund Facility program while discussions on a broader economic cooperation package between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are already underway.
