{"id":7617,"date":"2019-02-18T02:14:08","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T02:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/saudi-arabia-signs-20bn-in-deals-with-pakistan\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T02:14:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T02:14:08","slug":"saudi-arabia-signs-20bn-in-deals-with-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/saudi-arabia-signs-20bn-in-deals-with-pakistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia signs $20bn in deals with Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div property=\"articleBody\">\n<figure class=\"media-landscape no-caption full-width lead\"><span class=\"image-and-copyright-container\"><\/p>\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"js-image-replace\" alt=\"Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman and Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan in Islamabad in February 2019\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/493C\/production\/_105684781_imranmbs.jpg\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\"\/><span class=\"off-screen\">Image copyright<\/span><br \/>\n                 <span class=\"story-image-copyright\">Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<p>            <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"story-body__introduction\">Saudi Arabia has signed investment deals worth $20bn (\u00a315.5bn) with Pakistan, as the south Asian country looks to bolster its fragile economy. <\/p>\n<p>It comes as part of a high-profile Asian tour by the kingdom&#8217;s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. <\/p>\n<p>Pakistan urgently needs to address a balance of payments crisis and is looking to international backers for support.<\/p>\n<p>The deals include an $8bn oil refinery in the key port city of Gwadar.<\/p>\n<p>Other agreements centred on the energy and mining sector, according to reports. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s big for phase one, and definitely it will grow every month and every year, and it will be beneficial to both countries,&#8221; the crown prince said.  <\/p>\n<p>Pakistan is desperate for cash. The central bank has only $8bn left in foreign reserves and faces a balance of payments crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Imran Khan has been seeking help from friendly countries in order to cut the size of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-45859698\" class=\"story-body__link\">bailout package his country is likely to need from the International Monetary Fund<\/a>, under very strict conditions. <\/p>\n<p>The country is seeking its 13th bailout since the late 1980s and Saudi Arabia has already provided a $6bn loan.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"story-body__crosshead\">Charm offensive <\/h2>\n<p>Pakistan is the first stop on an Asian tour by the crown prince, known as MBS, ahead of scheduled visits to China and India.<\/p>\n<p>The prince is seeking to recast his international image in the wake of the Jamal Khashoggi affair. The journalist was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-europe-45812399\" class=\"story-body__link\">The Jamal Khashoggi story so far<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-middle-east-40354415\" class=\"story-body__link\">Who is Saudi&#8217;s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman<\/a>? <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Against this backdrop, the current tour can be seen as a charm offensive by MBS, who is seeking to bolster relationships with dependable allies as he doles out cash, says the BBC&#8217;s Abid Hussain.<\/p>\n<p>While Pakistan stands to benefit from Saudi Arabia&#8217;s largesse, the south Asian country is also important to the kingdom. <\/p>\n<ul class=\"story-body__unordered-list\">\n<li class=\"story-body__list-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-47255560\" class=\"story-body__link\">Read more from Abid Hussain.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The two countries have a long-standing military relationship and the MBS visit comes at a time when geopolitics in the region are shifting &#8211; including concerns over the influence of Iran. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-47274672\">Source<\/a> by <a href=\"\">[author_name]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright Getty Images Saudi Arabia has signed investment deals worth $20bn (\u00a315.5bn) with Pakistan, as the south Asian country looks to bolster its fragile economy. It comes as part of a high-profile Asian tour by the kingdom&#8217;s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Pakistan urgently needs to address a balance of payments crisis and is &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.styledeals.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}