News Desk
ISLAMABAD: Jameel Ahmad, Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday said that Pakistan is expecting to receive inflows of dollars from next week onwards which will reduce pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
Addressing the participants at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), he said that after the inflows begin, the foreign exchange reserves position will improve paving the way for ending restrictions on imports.
In May, Pakistan banned all non-necessary luxury goods imports to avert the balance of payment crisis and bring stability to the economy. But, after severe criticism from stakeholders, the officials concerned removed restrictions on the import of several goods to facilitate the industries.
The low reserves—currently standing at their lowest level since February 2014—led the SBP to place restrictions on imports earlier last year, much to the disappointment of several businesses and importers in the country that cited these restrictions as the reason behind scaling back or shutting down their operations.
Decisions on import restrictions after dollars inflow
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have rapidly depleted to less than 3 weeks of import cover of 4.5 billion dollars as of 6 January, however, the SBP governor assured the business community that the inflow of the dollars would start pouring in from next week and decisions regarding imports restrictions will be taken after it.
Talking about the grievances of the businessmen regarding difficulties faced in opening Letters of Credit (LC), he said that the verification takes time.
He further said that the SBP has cleared nearly 33,000 LCs with special consideration for the imports of raw materials used in goods that are exported.
SBP chief clarified that the current dollar reserves held by the country are not sufficient to bear import pressure faced by the national economy.
He said that the current problems plaguing the economy did not emerge over the last few days, it remained to be seen how the economy can be improved.
Jameel Ahmad said that the condition to seek permission from SBP for imports was placed earlier, which led to the reduction of imports and an increase in outflows, causing the deficit.
