ISLAMABAD: Finance and Revenue Minister Senator Ishaq Dar said on Saturday that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves will be “stronger” in the coming days as it looks to friendly countries for fund flow.
In a conversation with JEE News, the Finance Minister said that the total reserves of the country are 10 billion dollars, which are 4 billion dollars of State Bank of Pakistan and 6 billion dollars of commercial banks.
“Pakistan is repaying its debts on time, and soon, the foreign exchange reserves will also increase,” the finance minister said, as the country faces an economic downturn.
Sources told JEE News on Saturday that the foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank have dwindled to just $4.5 billion after repayment of $1.2 billion in loans to United Arab Emirates (UAE) banks.
According to sources, this gives the country just less than a month’s import cover, as Pakistan faces a severe economic crisis amid a shortage of the greenback.
According to sources, the break-up shows that Pakistan returned $600 million to Emirates Bank, while it returned $420 million to Dubai Islamic Bank.
The finance minister said that a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will soon visit the country and they will also meet the lending authorities at the Geneva Moot.
The International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan will be held on January 9 in Geneva, Switzerland, where the coalition government aims to raise funds for recovery from the deadly floods.
After concluding his visit to Geneva, Dar told the media without further naming that he will go to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a three-day official visit.
“Funds from Saudi Arabia and other friendly countries will be received soon,” said the finance minister, who told reporters earlier this week that he expected funds from the kingdom and China “in a few days.”
Amid the crisis-like situation, Pakistan will have to pay around $8.3 billion in external debt repayments during the next three months (January to March) of the current fiscal year.
The government is trying to secure a $1.7 billion bailout package through the IMF’s ninth review, but the two sides have not made substantial progress in recent days.
Prime Minister Shehbaz has said that an IMF delegation will visit Pakistan in 2-3 days to “take up and finalize” the ninth economic review to end the much-needed $1.1 billion bailout tranche. can be done
In light of the economic crisis, the National Security Committee (NSC) has also recently agreed to take concrete steps to strengthen the economy – including rationalizing imports as well as curbing illicit currency outflows and shillings. including preventing
