Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said that as on February 11, 2016, foreign exchange reserves of the country stand at $20.318 billion; of which foreign exchange reserves held by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) are $15.460 billion and foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks are $4.858 billion.
In a written reply to the National Assembly on Monday, the Minister said the above reserves include stock position as on February 11, 2016 by netting out all inflows and outflows, including disbursements and repayments of foreign currency loans, bonds and various sources of investments. He said that in line with Investment Policy approved by the Central Board of State Bank of Pakistan, foreign exchange reserves are invested with highly rated and well-reputed sovereigns and financial institutions, keeping in view three considerations - in the order of priority - namely liquidity, safety and return. He said that annualised rate of return on FX Reserves held by SBP during the FY-16 todate is up to 2.79% depending upon the currency and duration of investment made.
Answering another question, the Minister told the Lower House of the Parliament that the total foreign loans obtained by the government (disbursed) during the period from 01-01-2000 to 31-12-2013 amounted to $45.94billion. He said that the amount of multilateral donors is $25.5 billion, bilateral donors' $7.7 billion, bonds' $2.7 billion, commercial borrowing $1.12 billion and the amount of the IMF debt is $9 billion.
Answering another question, the Minister said that $57.1 million has been disbursed to the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa out of $81.5 million under Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF). He said KP government could only utilise $52.235 million so far. He said the major reasons for not utilising the funds are delayed procurement, hiring of contractors and project employees, capacity issues, delays in fulfilling procedural requirements, frequent management changes, court cases, issues between departments etc.
Answering to another question, the Minister said that a total of Rs 873.76 billion quarter-wise funds were released to the provinces during the current fiscal year (2015-16). He said that Rs 415.63 billion were released to Punjab in two quarters, Rs 232.7 billion to Sindh, Rs 140 billion to K.P and Rs 85.42 billion to Balochistan.
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