China willing to provide ‘all kinds of assistance’, envoy assures Dar

China assured Pakistan on Wednesday that it is ready to help Islamabad in every possible way following its request for about $8.75 billion in an additional financial package, including the rollover of debt, bank deposits and currency swaps. Chinese Ambassador in Islamabad Nong Rong called on Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday and “assured continuous support of the Chinese government to Pakistan”, the finance ministry said in a statement. The “government of China stands with the people of Pakistan and is willing to provide all kinds of assistance”, the statement added. Mr Dar told reporters last month that Pakistan had sought about $9bn in additional financial support from China during the visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Beijing, and that the Chinese leadership had promised to “roll over $4bn in sovereign loans, refinance $3.3bn commercial bank loans and increase currency swap by about $1.45bn — from 30bn yuan to 40bn yuan”. The total worked out at $8.75bn.