KARACHI: Pakistan may not go for another bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the recent measures taken to shore up foreign exchange have started bearing fruits, the central bank governor said on Monday.
“The goal is to have foreign exchange reserves that are sufficiently high and with that we will not go back to the IMF for another programme,” Reza Baqir said at a lecture on “Pakistan Economy: Macroeconomic Challenges and Outlook” here at IBA Karachi.
“Pakistan will not be experiencing a reserves fall as it had faced at the close of every past Fund’s programmes,” Baqir added. The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose to $8.46 billion as of September 20 from $7.28 billion at end-June 2019.
“Pakistan will not be experiencing a reserves fall as it had faced at the close of every past Fund’s programmes,” Baqir added. The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose to $8.46 billion as of September 20 from $7.28 billion at end-June 2019.
SBP governor said the central bank’s aim is to boost the net international reserves — the reserves which are not built with borrowed money. “These are on the improving path.” Baqir said foreign exchange interventions by the SBP to defend the currency and the fixation of the exchange rate resulted in the decline of the foreign exchange reserves in the past.
Baqir highlighted three key elements for running the economy independently, going forward. He talked extensively about having sufficiently high foreign currency reserves among the three to permanently quit the IMF.
He highlighted several measures taken by the SBP to bring stability in the exchange rate while adding that the dollar rates in inter-bank and open market are almost same — with slight difference — which is a sign of stability.
