Foreign exchange reserves will touch $15bn by month-end: Dar
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ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday said that Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves will touch $15 billion by the end of this month.
Addressing the office bearers of all Pakistan newspapers society in Islamabad, the federal minister called upon all political parties to join hands to put the country back on track.
“13.7 per cent increase has been registered in remittances, 16.4 per cent increase in tax collection and foreign exchange reserves have reached 14 billion dollars as a result of policies adopted by the government,” Dar said.
The finance minister said the Constitution allows the government to use supplementary grants during emergency situations such as floods and other natural calamities.
He said that Pakistan has floated sukuk bonds after 7 years and received a great response.
“The government has issued the sukuk bonds on the demand of Islamic Banks and got $2.3 billion offers in this regard,” the minister added.
The finance minister said that the release of sukuk bonds and sale of OGDCL shares were delayed due to sit-ins by the PTI and the PAT.
Dar stated that the government is focusing on education and health sectors while elimination of terrorism and ensuring merit and transparency in all departments is also its top priority.
The minister also said that the government would pay arrears of newspaper owners soon after it would receive the summary from the information ministry.
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Comments (25) Closed
Dec 07, 2014 05:29pm
Without Imran Khan's dharna and agitation we could've gotten even better results.
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Dec 07, 2014 05:31pm
Mr. Dar, kindly advise what structural changes have you made to improve fiscal condition? You have borrowed money to improve reserves while international oil prices have also helped, but exports remain stagnant which should be an issue for the government.
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Dec 07, 2014 06:16pm
How much of that is aid ? How long you keep Pakistanis in dark ?
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Dec 07, 2014 06:17pm
How by taking another loan?
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Dec 07, 2014 06:18pm
And we're still begging for billions from the international community. Why? Specially when we have billions in reserve?
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Dec 07, 2014 06:18pm
You can add couple of more billion dollars if you can get rid of smuggling done through afghan transit trade loophole.
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Dec 07, 2014 06:23pm
Congratulations. 15 billion....wow !!
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Dec 07, 2014 06:41pm
increase in foreign exchange reserves with help of borrowed money! what great achievement.
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Dec 07, 2014 06:47pm
Foreign exchange reserves by country
1) China - $4 trillion 2) Japan - $1.2 trillion 3) Saudi Arabia - $744 billion 4) Switzerland - $523 billion 5) Taiwan - $425 billion 6) Russia - $418 billion 7) Brazil - $375 billion 8) South Korea - $364 billion 9) India - $313 billion 10) Singapore - $266 billion
Pakistan is not even in the Top 50. For a country of 200 million $15 billion is pocket change. Even big MNC's like Apple and Google has that amount in their banks or for that matter billionaires.
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Dec 07, 2014 07:27pm
15 billion? thats peanuts that's only 2 billion more than September 2014 figures. Pakistan should be crossing the 80-100 billion mark then you can score points on your achievements. Look at Vietnam, Bangla Desh,
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Dec 07, 2014 07:31pm
Pakistan should have cash reserves touching $ 50 billion, where has it all gone, Mr PM.
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Dec 07, 2014 07:45pm
Pakistan has great potential if led by good governance.
!5 billion is nothing. Pakistan needs to achieve reserves of 200 billion. This is achievable with good policies.
Government needs to focus on education ,exports, power management, eradicate corruption from top to bottom, eliminate and expose sources of terrorism (external and internal).
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Dec 07, 2014 08:08pm
Which ones? Pakistan's? Or Sharif's?
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Dec 07, 2014 08:24pm
The fall in international oil prices has provided a golden opportunity for PMLN to revive economy of Pakistan and they should fully focus on their agenda without getting distracted by their critics
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Dec 07, 2014 08:52pm
Looks like one more parcel of special gift from a friendly arabic country is on the way...Dhar is a great genius..
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Dec 07, 2014 09:00pm
Country living on life line thrown by IMF , remittance by expats, what is Dar trying to tell us ? Over 60% members of National Assembly do n't pay tax , PM ,ex president have assets out side the country beyond the reach of taxation. So Mr. Dar explain it to the nation.
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Dec 08, 2014 12:51am
We don't believe any statement by any minister of PML-N. They have lost their credibility through their previous statements.
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Dec 08, 2014 01:46am
Export and other income has not increased but the foreign exchange reserve has expanded because of heavy borrowing pledging the future with no prospects of growth and development. Pakistani's must become more serious and should take effective action decisive action wrong policies of PML-N government.
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Dec 08, 2014 01:55am
In Musharraf's days our FER stood at 16 billion while India's was 73 billion USD. Today India's FER stands at 316 billion USD, Bangladesh at 22 billion USD and Pakistan's is struggling reaching 15 again (and that too after Dar has taken up heavy loans). Our civilian leadership (or the lack of it) has failed us yet again.
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Dec 08, 2014 06:44am
//16.4 per cent increase in tax collection//
How does tax collection added to the foreign reserves?? Does Pakistanis pay taxes in $?
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Dec 08, 2014 06:45am
I don't understand how in a country chock full of commerce graduates people can be so ignorant of economics. The nominal amount of forex reserves does not matter. Forex reserves are measured relative to the import bill and what matters is how many weeks or months of import cover we have.
Secondly, these numbers reported here include foreign currency held by commercial banks. Nowhere in the world are the dollars owned by private individuals counted in official forex reserves. Even the IMF doesn't count them.
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Dec 08, 2014 06:45am
Bill gates or Mukesh Ambani or Azeem Premji as a matetr of fact so many individuals are richer than state of Pakistan, WOW!!!
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Dec 08, 2014 07:23am
13.7 percent increase on account of remittances made by overseas pakistanis. Now compare this with 16.4 percent generated through taxes collected in Pakistan - population 180 million.
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Dec 08, 2014 07:25am
@Mahesh : Mukesh Ambani's personal wealth is more than that $15 billion
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Dec 08, 2014 11:26am
Must I remind Mr Dar that after Mr Sharif left Pakistsn bankrupt, Pervaiz Musharraf not only brought country from red to black but also left more than $15 billion surplus into treasury, paid off IMF loan, and did not float bond to create foreign exchange that you boasted after borrowing from public! Besides Dawn reported only yesterday on the state of the union about economy stating only around 4% growth is expected yet sluggish economy with shortage of power still remain an issue with your government inclusive of Zardari's useless rule who threw every infrastructure of the country into drain! Blame on Imran and Musharraf but I don't see any light at the end of the dark tunnel after even after 3rd attempt to rule the country by Mr Nawaz administration. I must also admit only feudals prosper in your Raj along with dishonest politicians!
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