ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister, Shaukat Tarin, told the Senate on Friday that the country will begin using the Saudi oil facility on a deferred payment basis next month.
Last week, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia agreed to open the kingdom’s oil facility as soon as possible, and the two nations signed a $1.2 billion agreement for the import of petroleum products on November 29, 2021.
The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) would extend a financial facility of up to $100 million per month for one year for the purchase of petroleum products on a deferred payment basis, according to the financing agreement.
“Pakistan received $3 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia in the month of December 2021 for a period of one year at a four percent interest rate,” the minister said during question hour in the Upper House of the parliament earlier today.
In response to rising oil costs, he stated that the government has made every effort to avoid passing the entire weight of the international increase in petroleum products on to the people.
He also mentioned that the finance ministry had decreased the sales tax and Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) on petroleum goods to help the people.
“The State Bank of Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have increased over the previous year, which will assist lessen pressure on the rupee,” Tarin said, adding that the country’s exports and remittances were also on the rise, while the trade deficit shrank by $1.5 billion last month.
In response to a query concerning the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan’s finance minister stated that Pakistan has met 27 of the FATF’s 28 requirements.
“We have met our objectives, and we expect the country to be removed from the FATF’s grey list at the next review conference,” he added.
Separately, Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz told the Senate that the governments of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) had begun major efforts to provide safe drinking water.
“The Capital Development Authority and the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources have collaborated on a groundwater recharge project,” Shibli stated.
Several initiatives worth billions of rupees have been started for the development of Balochistan and Gwadar, according to Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan.
