China has signed a $3.7 billion equivalent commercial loan deal with Pakistan, which has pulled the South Asian country's foreign exchange reserves back to the double-digits from the critically low level of $8.9 billion last week, media reports said.

According to reports, the deal is expected to help meet a commitment with the International Monetary Fund to close the fiscal year 2024-25 with $14 billion gross foreign exchange reserves.

Official sources told The Express Tribune that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the Bank of China have signed a total $1.6 billion deals on Friday.

The money will reportedly be disbursed on Monday.

Sources told the newspaper that Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar played a critical role in finalising the deals after he was approached by the finance ministry.

Dar first started pursuing the Chinese authorities on May 19, and that eventually led to the signing and even the disbursement of the $2.1 billion commercial loan by a syndicate of three Chinese commercial banks this week.