Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi denied reports that his country had paid a loan of two billion dollars to Saudi Arabia, stressing that Pakistan and the Kingdom "enjoy perfect relations at the present time."
Qureshi said that the Kingdom has always stood by Pakistan and supported it in difficult times, in addition to depositing $ 3 billion in the Central Bank of Pakistan, to help adjust the balance of payments.
Reuters reported, according to officials in Islamabad, that Pakistan returned one billion dollars to Saudi Arabia, in the second installment, of a soft loan of 3 billion dollars, while Islamabad requested a commercial loan from Beijing, to help it relieve the pressure of paying another billion dollars to Riyadh. next month.
Saudi Arabia had loaned Pakistan $ 3 billion and provided it with a credit facility for oil purchase of $ 3 billion and $ 200 million, at the end of 2018.
When the news became popular yesterday, analysts said that it is unusual for Riyadh to insist on recovering the money, but relations have been tense in recent times between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, despite their historical friendship, as they say.
A finance ministry official said the Pakistan central bank was already in talks with Chinese commercial banks, while a foreign ministry official told Reuters that China "came to our aid."
Islamabad has requested a trade loan from Beijing to help it.
"We have sent a billion dollars to Saudi Arabia," the official added, adding that another billion dollars would be returned to Riyadh next month, and Islamabad had repaid one billion dollars last July.
The Pakistani army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajoh, visited Riyadh last August to calm tensions, and he also met the Saudi ambassador in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Despite a surplus of $ 1.2 billion in the current account balance and an unprecedented transfer of $ 11.7 billion from abroad in the last five months that helped support the Pakistani economy, observers believe that the return of the Saudi funds - if correct - implies a setback.