External loans hit $1.7bn in July-August

Pakistan received $1.7 billion in external loans during July and August, according to Samaa. The two months mark the beginning of the 2026-27 fiscal year, which runs from July to June in Pakistan.

Mettis Global, a financial news service, reported separately that external financing in August alone reached $939 million. The outlet did not state whether that August amount is included in the two-month total carried by Samaa.

The two reports used different labels. Samaa described the inflows as external loans, while Mettis Global called them external financing. External financing can include loans, grants and other capital inflows, so the figures may not be directly comparable. Neither outlet published a breakdown by lender, project, interest rate or repayment terms, and neither compared the amounts with the same months of the previous fiscal year.

It was also unclear whether the figures referred to disbursements actually received, new commitments signed, or approvals. Reports on external borrowing in Pakistan often differ on this point depending on whether the data come from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the State Bank of Pakistan or the lender itself. The two reports released on Monday did not cite an official source.

External borrowing is closely watched in Pakistan because the country uses foreign inflows to meet balance-of-payments needs, repay maturing debt and support foreign exchange reserves. Events such as IMF programme reviews and credit rating assessments often reference the pace of external loan inflows.

The reports did not identify the largest lenders for the period and did not say how much of the total came from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, bilateral creditors, or commercial borrowing. No comment from officials was included.