Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said Friday that the Chinese consortium’s loan of RMB 15 billion (roughly $2.3 billion) has been credited into the SBP account.

“I am pleased to announce that the Chinese consortium loan […] has been credited to the SBP account,” the finance czar said in a tweet, adding that the loan increased the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Earlier this week, the finance minister had said that a consortium of Chinese banks signed a $2.3 billion loan facility with Pakistan, adding that the deal would help shore up foreign exchange reserves.

Pakistan is facing an unfavourable economic situation as it remains engaged in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the revival of a stalled Extended Fund Facility.

Earlier today (Friday), Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif imposed a 10% “super tax” on big industries in a bid to steer the country out of the economic crisis.

The finance minister in a separate announcement imposed additional taxes on gold shops saying that the measure was part of the government’s initiative to bring the retail shop owners under the tax net.

Pakistan and the IMF made progress on the budget measures for 2022-23, with additional policy actions committed by Islamabad to revive the stalled Extended Fund Facility (EFF) including generating Rs436 billion more taxes and increasing the petroleum levy from July 1.