The government is working to strengthen its finances after securing a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout in September 2024. The first installment of the loan is currently under review, and if successful, the country will receive an additional $1 billion.

Securing external financing has previously been a key condition for the IMF to approve bail-out deals for the cash-strapped nation.

The government needs to repay over $22 billion in external debt in the fiscal year 2025, including nearly $13 billion in bilateral deposits, global credit rating agency Fitch said last month.

According to the World Bank’s International Debt Report released in December, China has become Pakistan’s largest creditor with almost $29 billion in loans.

The World Bank put Pakistan’s total external debt (including IMF) at $130.85bn in 2023, accounting for 352 per cent of its total exports and 39% of gross national income (GNI). Pakistan’s total external debt servicing amounted to 43pc of total exports and 5pc of GNI.

According to the report, China had the single largest share of debt to Pakistan with 22 per cent share (about $28.786 billion), followed by World Bank’s 18% share ($23.55 billion) and Asian Development Bank’s 15% share ($19.63 billion).

Saudi Arabia stood out as the second largest bilateral lender to Pakistan with 7% of total debt or about $9.16 billion.