Reserves declined by $1bn per month during last 16 months of PML-N govt: minister

ISLAMABAD: Exposing the failure Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) economic policies, Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar said that the reserves had been declining by $1bn per month during the last 16 months of the previous government, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Hammad Azhar took to the twitter saying that the circular debt had increased by Rs450bn during the last fiscal year. He said that the reserves were not declining now and added that a gradual build up since Jan19 had been seen.

Reserves were declining at the rate of avg USD 1 bn/month for last 16 months of pmln. They are not declining now and a gradual build up since Jan19 has been seen. PMLN circular debt addition was Rs 450 bn during last FY. This year the build up will be close to approx Rs 250 bn. https://t.co/KDHa7hIb6Y

— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) March 19, 2019

The minister said, “This year the buildup will be close to approx Rs250bn.” He continued that the current account deficit that had increased by 7 times and trade deficit that had doubled in last 5 years was reducing by 22.6 per cent and 8 per cent respectively during July-February in fiscal year 2019.

He further said in his tweet, “I have repeatedly asked the question from PML-N that they should tell the nation themselves what the Net SBP reserves (minus credit swaps and short term liabilities) were when they left govt. Waiting for the reply so that we can publicly give the comparison and show the difference.”