Children being used to smuggle dollars out of Pakistan: PTI Senator

ISLAMABAD: During the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Senator Mohsin Aziz revealed that the children are being used for smuggling dollars from the country, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Senator Saleem Mandviwalla chaired the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance in which the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) briefed the meeting participants about the inflation, interest rate, and foreign exchange of Pakistan.

Senator Mohsin Aziz said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government gave autonomy to SBP but the central bank officials did not utilise it.

In reply to the senator, the SBP governor said that the economy is facing external and internal challenges. The current account deficit was estimated at $10 billion this year and will remain at $7 billion by the end of the current financial year.

Senator Aziz predicted that increasing the 25% tax on luxury items will bring the revenue down and smuggling will be encouraged.

The senator further revealed that the children are being used in dollar smuggling, while four to five million dollars are being smuggled on daily basis from the border.

The SBP governor claimed that in the current fiscal year, more than $2.4 million in debt has been repaid, adding that Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves will reach 4.3 billion by the next weekend and the annual inflation rate of this year is estimated to be 26.5%.