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 $3.45 billion to UAE,” said the SBP in a post on X.

A senior official said earlier this month that Pakis­tan had decided to return $3.5 billion in debt to the UAE before the end of this month.

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

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

In a separate post on X a day earlier, the SBP said foreign reserves held by the country stood at $20.63bn as of April 17.

More to follow