Pak Forex To Improve Further : Governor, State Bank Of Pakistan (SBP), Syed Reza Baqi

Governor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Syed Reza Baqir on Tuesday said the foreign exchange reserves of the country have improved and will increase further as now the market sentiments and economic indicators were very much positive

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Nov, 2019 ):Governor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Syed Reza Baqir on Tuesday said the foreign exchange reserves of the country have improved and will increase further as now the market sentiments and economic indicators were very much positive.

"The increase in forex is not because of more loans but after improved market sentiments, Central Bank is in position to build the reserves," he explained during a press conference here at SBP's Head Office.

The Governor said that he had come before media to speak on the recent economic development in the country ; especially to announce two initiatives the Central Bank had taken for ease of doing business and for the facilitation of exporters. The banks had also issued circulars in this regard.

He said, in July 2018 State Bank had restricted the advanced payments against imports due to pressure on reserves and on current account deficit.

Over the time, the things have improved and State Bank felt comfortable to allow all advance payment up to $10,000 for each invoice.

SBP had started with small amounts so that small exporters could take more benefit of this step, he said.

The second circular was regarding acquisition of services from abroad and such services could be acquired from abroad without prior permission from Foreign Exchange Operations Department of State Bank if the value of the specific service does not exceed $10,000.

After having positive results of such initiatives, the Central Bank could go for more initiatives, he said.

He said that with improvement in external regime, SBP had moved for ease of doing business.

For the economic prosperity, he said, the country would have to rely on exports and short and long-term measures were needed in this regard. SBP was going to introduce short-term Export Finance Scheme and Long-term Finance Scheme. Under LTFS the loan would be offered to textile exports at 5 percent and at 6 percent for other sectors.

The two schemes were very important to help boost exports, he said adding that finance limits for exports were also being increased. Over the time, new sectors would also be included in the list.

He said the exporters, however, would have to enhance their capacity.

SBP Governor said the reforms introduced by the present government had started giving better results. Now, economic indicators including Pakistan Stock Exchange were performing much better.

"Now, we need to shift our orientation from inwards to outwards," he remarked.

To a question, the Governor said foreign direct investment improves with strengthening of economic sentiments and was confident that FDI would improve in near future.