ISLAMABAD – *A big economic achievement worth $4.8 billions for the PTIgovernment.*
Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Abdul Hafeez Shiekh saidon Friday, that the $3 billion reduction in Foreign Exchange swaps andforward liabilities brought stability to the external account. As thereduction increased Foreign Exchange buffer by $4.8bn
In a tweet, Sheikh said: “Current Account Deficit is down by 72.6pc in Nov2019 & 73pc between July-Nov 2019 versus same period in 2018.
“In 5 months, increase in SBP Reserves by $1.8bn and reduction of $3bn inForeign Exchange swaps/forward liabilities increased Foreign exchangebuffer by $4.8bn providing further stability to external account,” he added.
linkDr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh@a_hafeezshaikhlinklink
Current Account Deficit is down by 72.6% in Nov 2019 & 73% between July-Nov2019 vs same period in 2018.In 5 months, increase in SBP Reserves by $1.8B & reduction of $3B in FXswaps/forward liabilities increased FX buffer by $4.8B providing furtherstability to external account.
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The country’s current account deficit fell sharply by 73 percent during thefirst five months of this fiscal year (FY20), supported by lower importbill.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the country’s currentaccount deficit stood at $ 1.821 billion in Jul-Nov of FY20 compared to $6.733 billion during the same period last year (FY19), depicting a notabledecline of $ 4.912 billion.
Economists said that improvement in goods trade deficit coupled with growthin exports has resulted in massive reduction in the current account deficitduring this fiscal year. However, they said that there is need to bringmore foreign inflows to finance the current account deficit and build thecountry’s foreign exchange reserves. For the last one year, the federalgovernment is making efforts to bring down the current account deficit andafter a long gap successfully turned the deficit into surplus in October2019.
