Forex reserves to reach $9-10bn by end of June, says finance minister

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Tuesday that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves would reach “anywhere between $9 to $10 billion” by the end of June. Addressing the inaugural session of the seventh ‘Leaders in Islamic Business Summit’ in Islamabad, he said the expected position in June would be a “much better position in terms of where we were [in the previous year]”. Pakistan’s forex reserves crossed the $8bn mark again last month after they fell below it in late February. The minister further said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should not be seen as “an end, but a means to an end”. Regarding the current Stand-By Agreement (SBA), Aurangzeb deemed it important to have entered the programme: “That was absolutely critical that we did that as a country for a reason. There is no plan B. Plan B is unimaginable when you are in a situation where I said you are down to 15 days of import cover.”