LAHORE: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has said that current account deficit is down by 72.6 per cent on a year-on-year in November 2019, whereas it was reduced by 73 per cent during the first five months of FY20 against the same period of last year.
The adviser said that during the last five months of the current fiscal year, the State Bank of Pakistan’s reserves have increased by $1.8 billion and there has been a reduction of $3 billion in foreign exchange swaps/forward liabilities increased foreign exchange buffer by $4.8 billion which provided further stability to the external account.
Current Account Deficit is down by 72.6% in Nov 2019 & 73% between July-Nov 2019 vs same period in 2018.
In 5 months, increase in SBP Reserves by $1.8B & reduction of $3B in FX swaps/forward liabilities increased FX buffer by $4.8B providing further stability to external account. pic.twitter.com/TLODiizRsi— Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh (@a_hafeezshaikh) December 20, 2019
It is pertinent to mention that on December 13, the foreign currency reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) were recorded at $10,892.9 million, up by $1,659.3 million compared with $9,233.6 million in the previous week. Such levels were last seen in May 2018.
The overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $17,655.5 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $6,762.6 million.
“This increase is attributed to multilateral and other official inflows including the $1.3 billion received from the Asian Development Bank (ADB),” said the SBP in a statement.
