Pakistan has come out of financial crisis: SBP Governor

KARACHI: Governor of State Bank of Pakistan Tariq Bajwa said while speaking at a private university in Lahore on Monday that the country has come out of financial crisis with the support of friendly countries due to which the economy has stabilized.

Bajwa said uncertainty in the economy had ended. The government is on the right path and is capable of meeting all economic challenges.

The governor spoke about the current account deficit, which had hit the economy badly during the current financial year.

The current account deficit was the real cause of concern for the new government headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Imran Khan has visited countries like China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Malaysia and Turkey to seek investment and has managed to get financial help to bridge the external deficit.

Bajwa said a plan had been prepared to eliminate the current account deficit and the work in this regard was in progress.

He said the deficit was the biggest hurdle for the country and the government was still negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a package to minimise it.

He said the government had not crossed the limit for borrowing from the SBP.

The policy shows the government wants to keep the scheduled banks liquid so the private sector can borrow more from the banking system.

Bajwa said the policy to depreciate the rupee has been adopted to reduce the trade deficit, which was the main reason for high current account deficit.