No ban on opening foreign currency account in Pakistan, Senate told

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar said in the Senate on Wednesday that there was no ban on opening of foreign currency account in Pakistan and that the government would never resort to such measures.

The House was informed that the current account deficit has amounted to $12.6 billion and $18.98 billion during the fiscal year 2016-17 and 2018-19 respectively, resulting in pressure on Pak rupee and its resultant devaluation.

Replying to a question by Senator Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh during the question hour, Minister for Finance Asad Umar said that the government/SBP was pursuing monetary tightening to curb aggregate demand that would result in reducing current account deficit.

The question hour had a bumpy start, as on finding the ministers concerned absent from the House, whose questions were listed, the joint opposition staged walkout from the Senate, compelling the Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to order ringing of bells. In the meantime, some legislators joined the treasury benches and opposition senators also returned to the House. In a written reply, the minister noted that administrative measures had also been taken to reduce import volume and recently the State Bank of Pakistan withdrew the facility of advance payments against imports and had imposed 100 percent cash margin requirement on import of various non-essential items.

Hammad Azhar said that during the last five years, exports had been between around $24-25 billion. However, there had been 13-14 per cent increase in remittances in the last quarters. He alleged that the freezing of foreign exchange by then finance minister Sartaj Aziz had caused incalculable loss to Pakistan.