Current account surplus hits 1.6 billion dollars, Senate informed

Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar on Friday said that current account has shown a surplus of 1.6 billion dollars during the first five months of current financial year.

According to the details, Senate began its session at the parliament house today with Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani in the chair.

Hammad Azhar informed the Senate the Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have increased to about 20 Billion dollars.

He said the reserves have increased due to improvement in exports and remittances.

The Minister for Industries said there has also been a record debt servicing during the tenure of the present government. He said we are paying back ten billion dollars annually.

Hammad Azhar said the current account has shown a surplus of 1.6 billion dollars during the first five months of current financial year against a deficit of 1.7 billion dollars in the corresponding period last year.

The Minister for Industries said that special economic zones will be constructed under the mega China Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

He said two projects have already been completed while seven projects worth 1.2 billion dollars projects are in the execution phase.

Adviser on Commerce and Trade Abdul Razak Dawood also informed the house that the government is taking concrete steps to boost exports.

He said during Corona pandemic the government provided a stimulus package worth 180 billion rupees to industries. The Adviser said, our government strengthened its economic ties with African countries under its Look Africa Policy to enhance the outreach of Pakistani goods in international markets. Trade committees have been formed to conduct bilateral trade negotiations with various countries.

Abdul Razak Dawood earlier said that exports of Pakistan to the United States (US) has crossed the dollar 400 million mark.

He said that, “exports of Pakistan to US during the months of Oct & Nov 2020 stood at USD 430 million & USD 437 million respectively. This is the first time that our exports to the US have crossed US dollar 400 million mark in a month.”