Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Jameel Ahmed on Monday projected inflation to reach the medium-term target of 5-7 percent by September 2025.
During an analyst briefing following yesterday’s meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, the central bank governor reassured that the country’s external debt repayments and foreign exchange reserves were now at a manageable level.
He announced that the remaining external debt repayments for the current fiscal year amount to approximately $1.8 billion while forex reserves are expected to hit roughly $9 billion post the IMF’s approval of $1.1 billion tranche. He lauded today’s levels compared to just $3 billion in the same period last year and attributed it to Pakistan’s maturity profile and the repayment of commercial loans back to the Middle East and China.
Despite the repayments, SBP sees foreign exchange reserves at the level mentioned above, in line with arrangements made with the IMF.
Jameel also announced a considerable increase in the SBP’s profit transfer to the government in the current fiscal year, exceeding Rs. 2 trillion compared to Rs. 0.9 billion last year.
Regarding gold reserves, Jameel said SBP holds about $4.3 billion in gold which is not a part of the bank’s forex reserves.
