Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmed said on Tuesday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal is near to finalization and that foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan will go up to 4.3 billion dollars.
In a Senate Standing Committee on Finance meeting, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwala and participated by other SBP officials, he said that the inflow of foreign exchange would surge after the deal with the IMF.
SBP governor reiterated that with the improvement in the inflow of dollars, the reserves of the State Bank would reach 4.3 billion dollars by the end of next week, and the annual inflation rate of the current year will be an estimated 26.5 percent.
Pressure on foreign exchange reserves
Pressure remains on Pakistan’s reserves mainly due to heavy foreign debt repayments and the absence of external financing due to delays in the revival of the IMF loan program.
In a recent monetary statement, the central bank had said that the current account deficit had seen considerable moderation in the first eight months of the current financial year to clock in at 3.8 billion dollars. The improvement is especially attributable to a reduction in imports (down by 21 percent); however, the slowdown in remittances and exports has affected some of the benefits of reduced imports.
