Foreign loan inflows decrease to $3.6 billion

Foreign loan disbursements dropped 43% to $3.6 billion in the first five months of the current fiscal year due to slower-than-expected releases, showed the official statistics on Monday. Against loans of $6.4 billion received during the July-November period of last fiscal year, Pakistan got $3.6 billion from bilateral and multilateral creditors during this fiscal year, according to figures reported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the State Bank of Pakistan. The ministry reported that during the first five months of 2024-25, the bilateral and multilateral lenders disbursed less than $2.6 billion, excluding the IMF's first loan tranche. After adding the IMF installment, the disbursement reached $3.6 billion, which was $2.8 billion less than the comparative period of last year.