By Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates has agreed to roll over the payment of $2 billion due by Pakistan this month, the South Asian nation’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday.
Sharif said he met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahya while he was on a personal visit to Pakistan on Sunday.
“In a one-on-one meeting he said…there is a $2 billion dollar repayment due and we are extending this,” Sharif told reporters in a televised press conference..
“I asked for the UAE to invest a few billion dollars in key investment projects and that would be helpful,” Sharif added.
“He said the UAE was committed to this investment and the two countries share brotherly ties,” he said.
Securing external financing has previously been a key condition for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to approve bail-out deals for the cash-strapped nation.
The next review by the IMF of its $7 billion, 37-month loan programe to Pakistan is expected in February.
Pakistan’s $350 billion economy has struggled for decades with boom-and-bust cycles, needing 23 IMF bailouts since 1958.