Pakistan is to ask Saudi Arabia if it can defer paying for $2bn (€1.3bn, £1bn) worth of oil imports as it grapples with a deteriorating economic situation undermined by global oil prices.

Yusuf Raza Gilani, the newly elected prime minister, was due to arrive in the desert kingdom last night on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He was expected to push Pakistan's request in meetings with Saudi leaders including King Abdullah, a senior government official told the Financial Times.