KARACHI: 11th instalment worth SDR 95.837 million of the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) to International Monetary Fund (IMF) is due in the last week of this month. Sources in Ministry of Finance told Business Recorder on Tuesday that although Pakistan is facing many economic challenges - depleting forex reserve, however arrangements are being made to pay this instalment on time.
They said no delay is expected in payment of next instalment and like previous practices the upcoming repayment will also be made from the reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The next settlement will be alone an instalment of principal amount, while interest on the SBA is already being paid by the central bank on quarterly basis, they added. As per payment schedule already agreed between Pakistan and the IMF, 11th instalment of SBA is due this month. "As per schedule, Pakistan has to pay Special Drawing Rights (SDR) 95.837 million (some $143 million) to the IMF as 11th instalment under SBA on March 28, 2013," they said.
Two instalments worth $536.7 million were paid in February 2013. Some $145.791 million were paid as 9th SBA and $391 million as 10th instalment respectively on February 11 and February 26, 2013. Since July, 2012, Pakistan repaid SDR 2.118 billion equivalent to $3.244 billion to the IMF on account of different loans. Remaining outstanding amount of IMF SBA programme is SDR 3.231 billion, which has to be paid by Pakistan till September 2015.
Followed by rising debt payments, the country's foreign exchange reserves are gradually depleting and fell to $12.565 billion as on March 8, 2013 compared to $15.236 billion as on June 29, 2012. While, some more decline is expected in the reserves after the payment of current instalment to the IMF, which will reflect in the forex reserves report in the first week of April.
Presently, SBP's reserves fell below $8 billion mark and stood at $7.655 billion in the second week of March, while reserves held by banks declined to $4.91 billion. Arrival of some $1.118 billion of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) strengthened the country's foreign exchange reserves. However, currently Pakistan is completely relying on the home remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis as its exports are already on decline.
Comments
Comments are closed.