Saudi Arabia has extended a $3 billion financing facility for Pakistan, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb confirmed on Wednesday, while signalling that a proposed $10 billion support facility from the United States is no longer central to the government’s plans.

Speaking to journalists at Parliament House after a Senate Standing Committee on Finance meeting, Mr Aurangzeb said the Saudi facility, provided in April this year to bridge a gap left by $3.5 billion in repayments to the United Arab Emirates, had matured on 31 October under its three-month term. Asked how long the extension runs, he said only: “It has been extended and for a reasonable period.” He declined to give a new maturity date, and said Pakistan did not need further financial assistance from Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia has provided $8 billion in short-term financing in total, of which $5 billion has already been extended until December 2028. The minister said foreign exchange reserves, put at $21.5 billion, cover more than three months of imports and are expected to reach four months of cover by the end of the year.

On the American proposal, an Exchange Stabilisation Support Facility requested in July, Mr Aurangzeb sought to lower expectations he had raised in earlier months. He said the request was made when Pakistan was seeking access to international capital markets, and that access has since been secured: Pakistan raised $3 billion through a bond issue in the first week of September against orders worth $6 billion. “If that [facility] materialises, fantastic, it will be a liquidity support facility,” he said. “Otherwise, we have plans for further Eurobond issuance, Panda bond issuance and rupee-linked dollar-settled bond.”

The minister added that financing from US institutions such as the Export-Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation, which would support American exporters and investors in Pakistan, is a separate matter from the proposed liquidity facility. Officials told the Senate committee that Pakistan’s gross external financing repayments stand at $21.5 billion this fiscal year, including $17 billion in principal and $4 billion in interest, with $7.3 billion available in bilateral rollovers.

Sources:

Dawn, ‘Riyadh rolls over $3bn as prospects of $10bn US facility wane’, 5 November 2026 — https://www.dawn.com/news/2042213

The Express Tribune, ‘Saudi Arabia extends $3 billion loan rollover’, 5 November 2026 — https://tribune.com.pk/story/2638735/saudi-arabia-extends-3-billion-loan-rollover

Business Recorder, ‘Aurangzeb informs Senate body: External accounts comfortable’, 5 November 2026 — https://www.brecorder.com/news/40447491/aurangzeb-informs-senate-body-external-accounts-comfortable