ISLAMABAD: Qatar has not offered immediate provision of $2 billion in cash to Pakistan but renewed its interest in buying the two LNG-fired power plants that Islamabad was initially reluctant to sell without a competitive bidding process.
Last week, the acting State Bank of Pakistan governor indicated that Qatar might provide $2 billion in bilateral support without identifying the source of funding.
But a government official said on Friday that Doha seems more interested in making investments in various sectors than offering cash to immediately bail out Islamabad
“After the $3 billion investment commitment by Qatar, there is no funding gap, hence, no immediate requirement for the $2 billion cash,” Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said when contacted.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Pakistan to increase the gross official foreign exchange reserves to $16.2 billion by June next year, pointing out a hole of $4.5 billion that has to be filled by securing commitments from the bilateral creditors.
Qatar’s policy of no-cash but investment is in line with the policies that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have adopted this time towards Pakistan, breaking the past practice of signing off big loan cheques that Islamabad never paid back.
The king of Saudi Arabia on Thursday also directed to make a $1 billion investment in Pakistan after a similar announcement was made by the UAE a few days ago.
The materialisation of these investments worth $5 billion from the three countries would require a strong commitment from the government of Pakistan, which will also keep it on track to follow the procedure prescribed by the IMF.
