ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The total value of Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves as of May 6, 2019 is US$ 15911.8 million, the National Assembly was told.
In a written reply to a question by Naveed Aamir Jeeva, the Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs told the House that of Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, US$ 8923.3 million reserves are held with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) while reserves held with commercial banks are US$ 6988.5 million.
The minister also told the House in response to another question by Dr. Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro that the present government inherited the fiscal deficit of 6.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2017-18.
The finance minister told that for the year 2018-19, the fiscal deficit is targeted at 5.6 % of GDP. He said that based on provisional data, fiscal deficit for first half of current financial year is 2.7% of GDP.
In addition, he said that the incumbent government has taken various measures to curtail the expenditure and to increase the revenue receipts to keep the deficit within limits.
Likewise, to a question by Sheikh Rohale Asghar, the minister apprised the House about the financial packages received by Pakistan from various Countries as per following;
- Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA): US$ 3.0 billion for balance of payments support and US$ 3.24 billion for deferred payment oil financing.
- United Arab Emirates (UAE): US$ 2.0 billion.
The terms and conditions of the above financial packages are;
- KSA deposit of US$ 3.0 billion is for one year at a profit rate of 3.0 percent per annum. US$ 3.24 billion deferred payment oil financing facility is for three years at a profit rate of 3.8 percent per annum.
- UAE deposit of US$ 2.0 billion (US$ 1 billion for two years and US$ 1 billion for one year) is at a profit rate of 3.0 percent per annum.
