ISLAMABAD: Pang Chunxue, Chinese Charge d’Affaires, assured Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday of China’s continued support to Pakistan. Highlighting deep-rooted historical bilateral ties, Dar lauded the Chinese support for Pakistan and underlined the need to further deepen the existing relations in trade and economy, as well as, other financial sectors.
Chunxue offered greetings to Dar on Eid ul Fitr and praised the friendly ties between the two nations. They also discussed bilateral ties and avenues to increase existing cooperation in multiple areas. The meeting comes as Pakistan struggles to reach a staff-level deal with the International Monetary Fund to revive a stalled loan program that it desperately needs to avert the risk of default.
The government has been negotiating with IMF since end-January to release the 1.1 billion dollar loan tranche that has been on hold since November 2022, part of a 6.5 billion dollars Extended Fund Facility agreed upon in 2019.
The lending agency had asked Pakistan to ensure that its balance of payments deficit was financed before a deal could be reached.
Chinese help
In this respect, China rolled over 2 billion dollars and refinanced another 1.3 billion in recent weeks.
