Pakistan FX reserves rise to $20bn, Hammad briefs Senate

Pakistan foreign exchange reserves have rose to $20 billion, the Senate was told on Friday.

During a session at the parliament house in Islamabad with Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani in the chair. The Senate was informed by Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar that the country’s foreign exchange reserves have increased to about $20bn.

Azhar told the house during question hour that the State Bank of Pakistan has foreign exchange reserves of twelve to thirteen billion dollars. He said the reserves have increased due to improvement in exports and remittances.

The Minister for Industries said there has also been a record debt servicing during the tenure of the present government. He said we are paying back ten billion dollars annually.

Hammad Azhar said the current account has shown a surplus of 1.6 billion dollars during the first five months of current financial year against a deficit of 1.7 billion dollars in the corresponding period last year.

Talking about China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Minister for Industries said that special economic zones (SEZs) will be constructed under the CPEC project. He said construction work on three SEZs has been expedited. He said projects worth $1.7 billion are in the phase of implementation in Gwadar under the CPEC. He said two projects have already been completed while seven projects worth $1.2 billion projects are in the execution phase.