ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance on Friday said that the country’s debt servicing dropped by 10pc to $5.8 billion from last year’s liability of $6.44bn.

A spokesperson of the ministry in a statement said that the commercial financing is a normal activity and part of overall financing plan for the current fiscal year. Commercial financing has been planned in terms of budgetary outlay for 2017-18 to bridge resource gap and supplement external buffers.

He said the country’s foreign exchange reserves continue to maintain a healthy level. This increase in reserves is driven by strong improvements achieved in the first quarter of current fiscal year on account of exports, remittances, FDI, official inflows and other private inflows, said the spokesperson.

With these positive trends strengthening in coming months, the foreign exchange reserves of the country will continue to be at a healthy level, added the spokesman.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2017