November 15, 2018 (MLN): Finance Minister Asad Umar, during an interview with Dawn News TV, said that only the immediate economic crisis of the country was over, whereas the overall financing gap of the country still needed arrangements.
Elaborating further, he said that Pakistan keeps reverting to the same situation of economic crisis every five years which forces Pakistan to seek bailout programmes repeatedly, therefore, an end needs to be put to this cycle through certain reforms and policies by the government which need to be followed consistently.
When asked about how the current financial gap of $28 billion will be fixed, Umar said that the country had accumulated a current account deficit of $19 billion last fiscal year and it faces payments worth $9billion for previously taken loans.
However, fiscal steps taken by government, along with State Bank’s monetary policy actions, had resulted in the current account deficit shrinking to $1 billion per month, as compared to $2 billion per month previously.
“Where we are standing right now, the current account deficit may amount to $12-$13 billion this year,” he added.
