Govt won't confiscate commercial banks' dollars, assures Dar

Minister says forex funds held by commercial banks are property of citizens and govt is not considering access to them

ISLAMABAD:

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday clarified that the government was not considering any access to foreign exchange reserves held by the commercial banks, which he said were the property of the citizens.

"I have already said that Pakistan’s reserves are $10 billion. The figures I quoted were based on the principle that national foreign exchange reserves always include forex held with SBP and Commercial Banks," he said while replying to a question in the press conference held here along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Dar’s comments come days after he said in an interview that the country’s forex reserves stood at $10 billion, a figure much higher than the State Bank of Pakistan’s reserves, claiming that the "$6 billion held by commercial banks also belong to the country".

Dar’s statement gave rise to concerns that the government might be considering confiscating foreign exchange reserves held by private commercial banks, as the PML-N government had done in the late-1990s when Ishaq Dar was finance minister.

But Dar said today that his comments were "misconstrued and misinterpreted" by "some vested elements who ruined this country’s economy in the past".

Also read: Dar says 90pc of Geneva pledges are 'project loans'

"It is categorically denied and clarified that there is no such move under consideration of the Govt. Therefore, said misconstrued, misinterpreted and malafide, propaganda should be ignored. Pakistan is moving towards improvement in its forex reserves position in the near future, InnshaAllah!" he also posted on Twitter.

National foreign exchange reserves always include forex held with SBP and Commercial Banks. Recently I quoted the forex reserves figure based on this principle. Some vested elements who ruined this country’s economy in the past, gave it a deliberate twist and started a campaign

— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) January 11, 2023

Speaking at the press conference alongside the prime minister in Islamabad, Dar said that wherever the forex figures are quoted at the international level, breakdown of the reserves is given.

With respect to the pledges made in the Resilient Pakistan Conference held in Geneva, the minister said the project loan financing announced by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Bank had already crossed $8 billion, while it was unclear whether the $1 billion announced by the Saudi Development Bank was programme lending or a project loan.

With respect to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ishaq Dar said he and his team had a detailed meeting with the IMF on the sidelines of the conference in Geneva earlier this week, where the IMF was informed that Pakistan was on track on the power and gas sectors reforms.

The 10 per cent special tax, he said, was delayed due to the stays from the high court and the matter would be resolved soon.

The minister recalled that back in 2016, the country had become part of the top 24 economies of the world and in 2030 it was projected to become part of G-20, but claimed that due to bad governance by the PTI, the country’s ranking went down to 47 last year.