ISLAMABAD- China has rolled over a $600 million loan to Pakistan, helping shore up the South Asian country's foreign exchange reserves on the back of an IMF deal, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday.

This was in addition to over $5 billion in loans that longtime ally China has rolled over for Pakistan in the last three months, Sharif said last week, helping Pakistan avert a default as negotiations to secure the IMF bailout dragged on.

Pakistan secured a last-gasp $3 billion IMF bailout on June 30, which later disbursed an initial upfront instalment of about $1.2 billion.

A further $3 billion of financial support from Saudi and the UAE after the IMF pact has helped steady the Pakistani economy, according to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

Pakistan's central bank said on Tuesday the current account recorded a surplus of $334 million in June.

 

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Shivam Patel and Christina Fincher)