Pakistan secures $5.4bn inflows in first two months of fiscal year,
ISLAMABAD –KARACHI: US dollar (USD) dropped by 1.10 Pakistani rupee (PKR) in interbank trading on Wednesday morning,
“The USD goes down by 1.10 PKR and trading in interbank at Rs288.70”, foreign exchange dealers have stated. The banks selling US dollar to importers at Rs289.10, currency dealers said. The dollar trading in open market at 291 Pakistani rupees, foreign exchange dealers further said.
The Pakistani rupee improving against the US dollar in the open market as gap with the inter-bank market continued to stay narrow and within the prescribed limit set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The rupee has been on a merry run against dollar in current month, which comes on the back of a countrywide crackdown against illegal exchanges and currency smugglers by the law enforcement agencies.
Earlier,
The State Bank of Pakistan also announced structural reforms, directing commercial banks to establish their own exchange companies as fully owned subsidiaries.
In August, the Pakistani rupee had witnessed continuous devaluation. The buying and selling rates of the dollar in the open market were standing as high as Rs322 and Rs325 respectively.
As Pakistan grapples with the current financial crisis, Islamabad managed to secure $3.206 billion in loans in the first two months of the current fiscal year 2023-24 compared to $439.32 million borrowed during the same period of 2022-23, revealed the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) data.
The government budgeted $2.4bn from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the current fiscal year and has received $1.2bn as the first tranche of the $3bn Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) in July. However, the EAD data does not reflect it.
Also, there is no mention of $1 billion disbursed by the UAE. If the IMF and UAE inflows are added, total inflows are $5.405 billion during the first two month of current fiscal year.
The $3.206bn include $2bn from Saudi Arabia under the head of time deposit in July 2023. The data further shows that the government had budgeted $4.5bn from foreign commercial banks. However, no money was borrowed under this head in July and August.
The government budgeted $1.5 billion from issuance of bonds, and here too the country is yet to issue bonds, hence no amount has been received under this account.
Pakistan had borrowed $10.844bn from multiple financing sources, including $2.206bn from foreign commercial banks, in 2022-23 against the budgeted foreign assistance of $22.817bn. However, the $10.844bn did not include the rollover of friendly countries’ deposits amounting to $6bn ($3bn each from China and Saudi Arabia), and re-financing of Chinese loans of $1.3bn.
