Business

Pakistan receives $3 bln loan from Saudi Arabia, says PM’s finance adviser

Pakistan on Saturday received a $3 billion loan from Saudi Arabia, the prime minister’s finance adviser said, as part of an economic support package.
The South Asian country has faced growing economic challenges, with high inflation, sliding forex reserves, a widening current account deficit and a depreciating currency.

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Shaukat Tarin, finance adviser to Pakistan's prime minister Imran Khan, said in a tweet: “I want to thank His Excellency Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the kind gesture.”
The loan from Saudi Arabia will be for one year at a 4 percent interest rate under the terms of the package, which was signed last month.
“This is positive news … and will help bolster both the foreign exchange reserves and sentiments in the forex market,” Saad Hashemy, executive director at BMA Capital said.
The loan comes a week after the International Monetary Fund agreed with Pakistan on measures needed to revive a stalled $6 billion funding program.
The completion of the review, pending since earlier this year, would make available 750 million in IMF special drawing rights, or around $1 billion, bringing total disbursements so far to about $3 billion.
Pakistan’s central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate by 150 basis points to 8.75 percent to counter inflationary pressures.
Inflation had reached 11.5 percent in November, up from 9.2 percent a month earlier.
The Pakistani rupee, which closed on Friday at 176.77 at inter-bank against a dollar, has depreciated more than 11 percent since the start of this year.

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Credit Suisse managers could face disciplinary action, Swiss regulator says

Swiss financial regulator FINMA said it was considering whether to take disciplinary action against Credit Suisse managers after Switzerland’s second largest bank had to be rescued last week by UBS.
FINMA President Marlene Amstad told Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag it was “still open” whether new proceedings would be started, but the regulator’s main focus was on “the transitional phase of integration” and “preserving financial stability.”

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UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.26 billion) in stock a week ago and to assume up to 5 billion francs in losses in a merger engineered by Swiss authorities during a period of market turmoil in global banking.
Credit Suisse on Sunday declined to comment on the FINMA President’s comments when asked by Reuters for a response.
Asked whether FINMA is looking into holding current Credit Suisse managers accountable for the collapse of Switzerland’s second-largest bank, Amstad said it is “exploring the options”.
“CS had a cultural problem that translated into a lack of responsi-bilities,” Amstad was quoted as saying by NZZ, adding: “Numerous mistakes were made over several years”.
FINMA had conducted six public “enforcement proceedings” against Credit Suisse in recent years, Amstad said.
“We have intervened and used our strongest instruments,” she said of its previous moves.
Amstad also defended Switzerland’s decision to write down 16 billion Swiss francs of Credit Suisse Additional Tier 1 (AT1) debt, to zero as part of the forced rescue merger.
“The AT1 instruments contractually provide that they will be fully written off in the event of a trigger event, in particular the granting of extraordinary government support,” Amstad said.
“The bonds were created precisely for such situations.”

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Aramco affirms support for China’s energy security

Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco affirmed on Sunday its support for China’s long-term energy security and development, the company’s CEO Amin Nasser said in remarks made before a forum in Beijing.

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Nasser said that the company has partnerships and emission-reducing technologies with China to make lower carbon products.

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Kuwait Oil Co dealing with ‘limited fire’ at well where oil leak occurred last week

Kuwait Oil Company said on Sunday it is dealing with a “limited fire” that erupted at a well where oil leaked last week.
The company said in a statement that no injuries had been reported at the scene.
“The company’s operations in the area have not been affected,” the statement read.
Kuwait Oil Company declared a state of emergency last Monday due to an oil leak in the west of the country.

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