Pakistan paid back US$ 2bln loan, says Governor State Bank

KARACHI: Governor State Bank of Pakistan Jameel Ahmed has said that Pakistan has paid back two billion dollars loan in past two years.

In a television talk show SBP governor pointed out that the foreign exchange reserves have also increased.

He shared that the current account will be 700 million dollars surplus in the month of November.

Central bank’s governor said that the State Bank of Pakistan has purchased dollars from the interbank.

He also said that the remittances from overseas will cross US dollars 35 billion during the current financial year.

The governor’s statement came after the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) slashed policy rate by 200 basis points in its monetary policy on Monday.

“The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to cut the policy rate by 200 bps to 13 percent, effective from December 17, 2024,” the SBP said in its statement.

It added that the inflation declined to 4.9 percent on a year-to-year basis in November2024, in line with the MPC’s expectations.

“This deceleration was mainly driven by the continued decline in food inflation as well as the phasing out of the impact of the hike in gas tariffs in November 2023. However, the committee noted that core inflation, at 9.7 percent, is proving to be sticky, whereas inflation expectations of consumers and businesses remain volatile,” the SBP added.