PM Imran lauds ‘remarkable turnaround’ in Pakistan’s economy

Foreign exchange reserves increase to $13 billion, says premier

PM Imran Khan. PHOTO: PID/FILE

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said the country's foreign reserves have risen to around $13 billion, the highest in three years.

The premier said that despite the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought a global slowdown in economic activity in 2020, there is "great news on the economy" and a "remarkable turnaround".

Pakistan has achieved a current account surplus of $447 million for the month of November, added the prime minister. He further said there is a surplus of $1.6 billion for the fiscal year so far versus a deficit of $1.7 billion during the same period last year.

Earlier this month, the premier attributed the positive trends in the country’s economy – improvement in stock market performance and increase in investors’ confidence – to the business-friendly policies of the PTI led federal government.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that Pakistan’s economy was on the path of recovery. Some official estimates suggested 2.8% growth rate during the current fiscal year.

“Pakistan’s growth is forecast to recover in fiscal year 2020-21 as economic sentiment improves with the expected subsiding of Covid-19 and the resumption of structural reform,” said the ADB.

The country's remittances have also continued to increase over the past months. Cumulatively, in the first five months (July-November) of current fiscal year, remittances grew 27% to $11.77 billion compared to the same period of last year.

Pakistan had received remittances in the range of $1.78-1.9 billion per month in the prior five months - January-May 2020.

 

strong { float: none; }blockquote { background: #f3f3f3; text-align: center; padding: 20px; position: relative; font-style: italic; font-size: 1.2em; } blockquote::before, blockquote::after { color: black; font-size: 3em; font-family: serif; font-weight: bold; position: absolute; } blockquote::before { content: "“"; left: 10px; top: -10px; } blockquote::after { content: "”"; right: 10px; bottom: -10px; }strong.location-names { height: 22px; }.sidebar-blog.widget-spacing { top: 0 !important; }.storypage-social-bottom { display: block !important; }.parnter-info span { display: none; } sidebarblog-withthumbnail .sidebarblog-caption h3, .sidebarblog-withthumbnail .sidebarblog-caption p:first-child { font-size: 18px; font-family: georgia, sans-serif !important; }h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, ul.sidebarblog-withthumbnail h3 { text-shadow: none !important; }.sidebarblog-withthumbnail .sidebarblog-caption h3, .sidebarblog-withthumbnail .sidebarblog-caption p:first-child { font-size: 19px; font-family: georgia,sans-serif; }.sidebarblogmain-img h3 { font-size: 22px; line-height: 23px; }@media screen and (max-width: 767px) { span.story-text p, span.story-text p a { font-size: 20px; } }.story-inner-caption, .story-leftside-relateditems.related-comp h2, span.branding, span.branding.video-branding-flex-cta-item { color: #000 !important; } .navbar-wrapper { max-height: 40px; }ul.logo-links li, ul.logo-links li a, .story-leftside-relateditems.related-comp h2, .story-leftside-relateditems.related-comp h3, .tbl-ccpa, .tbl-ccpa-right { color: black !important; } ul.sidebarblog-withthumbnail { min-height: 300px !important; } /* Hide Google anchor ads */ ins.adsbygoogle[data-anchor-status] { display: none !important; height: 0 !important; visibility: hidden !important; }