RIZWAN BHATTI
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday categorically denied the reports that it has stopped import payments and said that banks have sufficient stock of dollars for the import purpose.
For the past many days there were rumors in the market that SBP has restricted the banks for opening of fresh letter of credit for the import of goods to save the dollars.
SBP has noticed that certain rumours implying that SBP reserves have dried up or are not usable, that SBP has stopped import payments, and that banks have run out of US dollar. In this regard, the State Bank on Tuesday through social media clarified that it has not stopped import payments and commercial banks have sufficient dollar stocks and liquidity to execute import payments.
SBP’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves stood at $8.99 billion as of 10th June 2022. These do not include gold reserves, and are fully usable for all purposes, SBP mentioned.
According to SBP, banks are making payments and import payments of around $ 4.7 billion have been executed through the interbank market during the month so far.
In addition, on Tuesday, good news is related to Roshan Digital Account (RDA) as Pakistani banks witnessed the highest inflow from overseas Pakistanis on day to day basis.
SBP revealed on its twitter account that Tuesday marked yet another historic day with $57 million deposit inflows in a single day. These are the highest ever daily deposits, it added.
With this significant increase, total deposits in RDA have crossed $4.5 billion. SBP said that this proves the continuous trust and commitment of overseas Pakistanis.
Industry sources said that the SBP’s total foreign exchange reserves of $9 billion are sufficient for the import of one and half month. While, estimated over 3 billion dollars inflows are likely to mature very soon.
These inflows included $2.5 billion from China as deposits and $1 billion from IMF as tranche of Extended Fund Facility. These inflows will help to build the depleting foreign exchange reserves of the country. In addition, the imports are likely to decline in coming months with some preventive measures taken by the federal government to curtail the rising import bill.
