KSA urged not to withdraw its deposits: Miftah

KARACHI: In a bid to strengthen the country’s economy and foreign reserves, the Pakistan government has requested the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) not to withdraw its deposits worth $3 billion in the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) until the end of this year, said Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Wednesday.

Last year, Saudi Arabia had deposited $3 billion in the SBP to help support Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves.

Addressing a press conference here, Miftah Ismail said that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s economic team misguided the nation on talks with IMF.

“An IMF delegation will visit Pakistan in next few days,” he said, adding that they will show how to make things better and reduce inflation.

“Khan’s team said something during talks with IMF and told something else to the people in the county,” noted the finance minister. Lashing out at the past regime, he claimed that the Imran Khan-led government made new records of corruption and planted landmines in the economy.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to discuss augmenting kingdom's $3 billion deposit

Moving toward his government’s progress, the minister said that sugar is being sold at the lowest rate in the country since 2019. He maintained that the commodity is available at Rs70 per kilogram at the Utility Stores. The price of 20kg wheat bag has been slashed to Rs800 from Rs1200. The price of ghee has been reduced by Rs200 per kg.

Khan will have to answer why Shahzad Akbar turned a blind eye to the sugar scam, he added. In addition to this, Miftah Ismail said that the government had improved the electricity situation in the country. The finance minister said that they have no plan to curtail the powers of the SBP.

He maintained that the housing schemes of the previous government will continue. On April 24, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to send its mission to Pakistan in mid-May 2022 for continuation of its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme.

He had said at a press conference in Washington that the Fund had agreed to extend the programme for a year.