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. During the current month, Pakistan received a $3bn deposit from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The deposit came in two tranches, with the second tranche of $1bn received on April 21. More to follow