ISLAMABAD – Pakistan kicked off the new fiscal year with $695 million in foreign inflows during July, marking a 59 percent increase compared to the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EAD).
The inflows comprised $675m in foreign loans and $19m in grants, significantly higher than July 2024’s $426m in loans and $10.5m in grants. The growth comes on the heels of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), finalized after the passage of the federal budget.
For the current fiscal year, Pakistan has set a foreign inflows target of $19.9 billion, slightly above last year’s $19.4bn. This includes $6.4bn from multilateral and bilateral partners, $400m via international bonds, $3.1bn in foreign commercial loans, and large time deposits expected from Saudi Arabia and China.
Last July, Pakistan secured $5.1bn in inflows, boosted by a 9-month Stand-By Agreement (SBA) with the IMF, which unlocked $2bn from Saudi Arabia and $1.2bn from the IMF. By contrast, this year’s $695m represents growth against the $436m received in July 2024, but far below the exceptional SBA-driven inflows of July 2023.
Breakdown of July 2025 inflows:
- Project financing: $246.5m (down 20% from $307m in July 2024).
- Non-project financing: $448m (up nearly 250% from $129m last year).
- Budget support loans: $196m (a record increase from just $1.2m in July 2024).
- Saudi Oil Facility: $100m (against an annual $1bn target).
- Multilateral lenders: $380m (vs. $201m last year).
- Bilateral lenders (excluding key allies): $118m (slightly above $108m in July 2024).
- Remittances via Naya Pakistan Certificates: $196.2m (up from $128m a year ago).
Combined inflows from bilateral and multilateral sources reached $498.3m in July, against the $6.4bn annual target.
Looking ahead, the government expects $19.9bn in foreign financing this fiscal year, including $5bn in time deposits from Saudi Arabia and $4bn in SAFE deposits from China, in addition to multilateral, bilateral, and commercial borrowing.
