KARACHI: Pakistan repaid the $3.45 billion deposit to the United Arab Emirates, the State Bank of Pakistan confirmed on Friday.

The central bank said the $1bn deposit was rep­aid to the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development on April 23, and $2.45bn was repaid to the UAE “last week”.

“This completes the repay­ment of total deposits of $3.45bn to the UAE,” said the SBP in a post on X.

A senior official said earlier this month that Pakis­tan had decided to repay $3.5bn in debt to the UAE by the end of this month.

The official described the move as a cost the country was willing to bear to uphold “national dignity”, even though it is set to significantly deplete foreign exchange reserves.

These funds were part of external financing support provided by the UAE in 2019 to help stabilise Pakis­tan’s balance of payments.

In March, Islamabad failed to secure an agreement with the UAE to roll over the $3.5bn facility, marking the first such failure in seven years and raising concerns over near-term financing gaps.

In a separate post on X a day earlier, the SBP said the country’s foreign reserves stood at $20.63bn as of April 17. During the current month, Pakistan received a $3bn deposit from Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange position, though under pressure, remains part of a broader stabilisation effort under IMF-supported reforms.

Analysts say external financing risks remain a key vulnerability, particularly amid volatile energy prices and constrained global capital markets.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2026