ISLAMABAD: Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar on Fridayinformed the Senate the government has paid US $16.4 billion towardsexternal debt and Rs19.9 trillion towards domestic debt during the last twoyears.

Responding to various supplementary questions during Question Hour, theminister said record debt servicing was done during the last two years. Thegovernment was retiring US $10 billion debt annually, he added.

To another question, he said that the country’s foreign exchange reserveshave increased to US $20 billion despite record debt servicing.

He said State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has foreign exchange reserves of $12-13 billion. The reserves have increased due to improvement in exportsand remittances, he added.

The minister said the current account has shown a surplus of $1.6 billionduring the first five months of current financial year against a deficit ofUS $ 1.7 billion in the corresponding period of last year.

To a separate question, he said no cut on the NFC share of provinces hasbeen imposed by the federal government. It was not a fact, that thegovernment has imposed cut of Rs154 billion on the share ofKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the NFC Award.

Nine SEZs to be built under CPEC: Senate told: Minister for Industries andProduction Hammad Azhar on Friday informed the Senate that nine specialeconomic zones (SEZs) would be constructed under the China PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC) project with an estimated cost of $ 1.5 billion.Responding to various questions during Question Hour, the minister said outof total, construction work on three SEZs has been expedited on fast track.

To another question, the minister said as many as 11 projects worth $ 1.7billion were specified for Gwadar under the CPEC.

Two projects have already been completed while seven projects worth $ 1.2billion were in the execution phase, he added.