Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has rejected rumors about Pakistan’s likely failure in repayment of international loans.

Ismail, while talking to a think tank in the UAE expressed hope that the country will receive more dollars in the upcoming few weeks. This will help in the improvement of the exchange rate.

He said that a request from a country for increasing the foreign exchange reserves was rejected.

The finance minister said that a permanent governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) would be nominated soon.

He said that the Governor of the State Bank and the Prime Minister know, we will not default. He said his ministry was taking efforts to improve the balance of payment of the country.

“We will continue to keep the imports in a reasonable limit for the next two to three months,” the federal minister said. “Pakistan is expected to receive more dollars from abroad in the next two weeks,” he said. “It will help remove pressure over the rupee,” the minister said.

“The foreign currency reserves have declined to 9.3 billion dollars, but the reserves are sufficient for 45 days imports of the country,” Miftah said.

The minister said that the country in the WTO convention cannot think of imposing any cap on the dollar. He further added that all the currencies have been depreciated against it. He maintained that some three days ago, Pakistan’s currency appreciated against the euro, yen, and sterling pound. It has been doing right in the basket of currencies.

The finance minister added that what happened in recent days was because of political turmoil. Import numbers of the ongoing month gave him the confidence of a decrease in the demand of the dollar against supply. Consequently, the situation of the exchange rate would reverse.