ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that he expected foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) would reach around the $9-10 billion mark by the end of the current fiscal year. At present the Central Bank Reserves stand over $8 billion despite a $1-billion recent bond payment.
The minister said this while addressing the inaugural session of the 7th Leaders in Islamabad Business Summit themed ‘Collaborating for Growth’, here on Tuesday. The finance minister also expressed his hope to reach a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by June-July adding that the incumbent government has taken a number of steps to stabilise the economy and promote opportunities for growth.
The Minister apprised the participants that the foreign exchange reserves held by SBP have jumped from an alarming $3.4 billion last year, (equivalent to only 15 days of import cover), to over $8 billion which was an optimistic sign.
“Once the final tranche (of the Standby Agreement) comes from the IMF by the end of this week, our foreign exchange reserves would surpass $9 billion, and by the end of June, our reserves would expect to be around $9 to $10 billion,” the minister said.
Talking about the negative impression of the IMF programme, the ministers called it a Pakistan’s programme, adding that the was the basic requirement of the country to get rid of the current economic quagmire.
He further said that Pakistani authorities had “a very good discussion with IMF in Washington, and he hoped for a larger and longer programme in the near future.
“We’ll start discussions on the contours of the programme when the IMF mission visits Pakistan in the middle of May, and we are hoping that if all goes well, and we agree on the privatisation, we can get into a staff-level agreement by the end of June or early July so that we could move on,” he said.
He said that the IMF should be a means to an end, and not the end in itself adding that if Pakistan wants to get out of the currency dismal economic trap, then we must require to focus on the road to the market.
Finance Minister on Inflation
Talking about the current inflation, the minister said that the government was taking measures to control the pressure of inflation to provide relief to the poor and weaker sections of society.
He further said that the current government has also set targets to keep the current account and fiscal deficit within reasonable limits adding that it was an optimistic gesture for the country’s economy that the stock market reached an all-time high “and we also see now the beginning of foreign buying coming into the market”, he said.
Regarding the privatization of PIA, the minister said that privatization of the national flag carrier was in progress adding that the Expression of Interest had been submitted and suitable bids to come soon.
