PM Imran announces $424mn current account surplus for July

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Monday that the country's economy was on the "right track" after Pakistan's current account balance, according to him, showed a surplus of $424 million for July.

"MashaAllah Pakistan's economy is on the right track. After current account balance posted deficit of $613 mn in July 2019 and a deficit of $100 mn in June 2020, in July 2020 current account balance swung upwards to a surplus of $424 mn," tweeted PM Imran.

The premier credited the "strong turnaround" to the continuing recovery in exports, which he said rose by 20% compared to June 2020 and record remittances.

Meanwhile, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that this was the fourth monthly surplus since October 2019. It also acknowledged that the surplus was a "significant improvement" on the deficit of $613 million recorded in July 2019.

The SBP, which had tweeted minutes after PM Imran's announcement, said that apart from the continued recovery in exports and record-high remittances the "strong turnaround" was also due to the support "from several policy and administrative initiatives by SBP and government."

The central bank also said that the exports for the sustained strong recovery with month-on-month growth of further 19.7% in July on top of 25.5% in June.

Last week, PM Imran had announced that the country's remittances from overseas Pakistanis had reached $2,768 million in July 2020 – the highest ever amount in one month in the history of Pakistan.

On Independence day, PM Imran had said the country's economy was on the path to recovery as Pakistan had the upper hand in tackling coronavirus.

“Today the economy is working as well as the coronavirus cases are declining,” said PM Imran, in a televised address to the nation explaining to people why the measures taken by the government to reduce the price of electricity will lead to a significant improvement in Pakistan's economy.