Former finance minister Asad Umar benefited Pakistan economy with $18 billion in just 8 months, unprecedented in history
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ISLAMABAD - Ambitious former finance minister Asad Umar benefited Pakistan economy with $18 billion in 8 months.
Finance Minister Asad Umar—who was sacked by Prime Minister Imran Khan on April 18—had raised forex reserves by $9 billion from $8 billion to $17 billion in just eight months of his tenure and that too without getting loans from international lending agencies.
The former but ambitious finance minister also succeeded in shrinking once widening current account deficit (CAD) by considerable 29.5pc to $9.6 billion in the first nine months of the Fiscal Year 2018-19. The same stood at whooping $13.6 billion in the same period during previous fiscal year [2017-18].
The drop in CAD was witnessed owing to much-needed structural reform that ensued drop in imports and significant hike in remittances from abroad.
It is worth here to mention that financial analysts have repeatedly termed CAD sole reason behind Pakistan’s current economic quagmire.
At times when Pakistan was about to ink a bailout package agreement with International Monetary Fund on favorable terms, Asad Umar was sacked.
