Islamabad: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Reza Baqir on Tuesday said that Pakistan’s rising foreign exchange reserves might revert the need to seek International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) help, a news source reported. As per the publication, Baqir briefed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament on the monetary policy.
The governor informed the committee that foreign exchange reserves observed an increase of PKR 9.5 billion since July 2019. He expressed his confidence in the rising foreign exchange reserves of the country and said that inflation had dropped by 2 percent, while the dollar exchange rate also decreased from PKR 162 to PKR 155. The inflation rate will expectedly remain about 11 percent in the financial year 2019-20 (FY 2019-20), he added.
Previously, the IMF announced that it had reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistani authorities on the reforms and policies, which are needed to conduct the second review for the release of the IMF package. It is expected that the said review will be completed till April and followed with the IMF releasing a USD 450 million package.
