After Saudi Arabia, China expected to give $6 billion aid to Pakistan on CPEC, IMF bailout

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday arrived at Beijing in China for his four-day visit to the country seeking talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping to minimise its dependence on an IMF bailout package.

Reportedly, China has agreed to provide $6 billion in aid to cash-strapped Pakistan. (Image: AFP)

New Delhi: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday arrived at Beijing in China for his four-day visit to the country seeking talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping to minimise its dependence on an IMF bailout package. Khan met Xi in the Great Hall of People where the two leaders also held one-on-one meeting besides delegation-level talks, Pakistan media reports said. Reportedly, China has agreed to provide $6 billion in aid to cash-strapped Pakistan. A loan of $1.5 billion is also expected to be offered, along with an additional package of $3 billion for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), reported news agency PTI. The loan and the investments were reportedly part of the $6 billion package. However, there is no official comment from Beijing yet on the report. This is the second $6 billion package which Khan has managed to obtain in the last few weeks as Pakistan reeled under severe financial crisis. Earlier during his visit to Saudi Arabia, Riyadh committed $6 billion funding which included $3 billion deferred payment for oil imports. Pakistan Finance Minister Asad Umar, who is accompanying Pakistan PM, earlier told media in Islamabad that his government's strategy was to seek loans from multiple sources instead of asking the International Monetary Fund (IMF) alone to plug the entire gap in the country's financing needs. Khan's visit to China evoked considerable interest as it comes in the wake of his past criticism of the $50 billion CPEC projects and remarks by his ministers to cut down some of the projects over debt concern. Khan's visit to China will also provide an "opportunity" for the two countries to open a "new chapter" of bilateral relations "under the new circumstances," PTI quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang as saying. (With agency inputs)