First vessel of Saudi oil on deferred payment reaches Karachi port

Author: Daily Times Monitor

Saudi Arabia has begun supplying oil on deferred payment to Pakistan as the first vessel carrying Arab Light Crude Oil cargo berthed at the Karachi Port on Saturday, a private TV channel reported.

“The first vessel MT Quetta arrived under the financing facility and has berthed at Karachi Port,” according to a statement.

In October 2018, Saudi Arabia announced $3 billion financial assistance for Pakistan to help support its balance of payment crisis. The Saudi economic support package also included oil imports on deferred payments. “Pakistan will start receiving monthly oil supplies worth $275 million from Saudi Arabia with effect of July 1, 2019,” the Saudi embassy had said in a statement. “These supplies will continue over the next three years, with a total value of $9.9 billion,” it had said. The package expresses the keenness of the Saudi leadership to help Pakistan’s economy achieve stability and its government to overcome the economic challenges, the statement had read, adding that the Saudi financial assistance also emphasised the depth of relations between the two brotherly countries and peoples.