The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) injected $1.4 billion into forex market for rupee stabilisation during the last few months, sources in Finance Ministry told Business Recorder here on Monday. "SBP has released $1.4 billion in the market to avoid further depreciation of rupee due to some depletion of forex reserves in the short run," sources quoted Governor SBP, Dr Ishrat Hussain as briefing to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet at its meeting on November 5.
SBP Governor, sources said, told the ECC that pressure on forex was because of higher investment-related imports (machinery and equipment) which, according to him, was a healthy sign for the country's economy. The other contributing factor was high oil prices in the international market for which oil bill had gone up from $250 million to $400 million.
Dr Ishrat further informed the ECC that concessional oil facility from Saudi Arabia was no more available to Pakistan for the last several months, resulting in further increase in oil import bill.
The SBP Governor expressed concern over the mismatch between country's exports, remittances and imports, saying that exports and remittances, though higher than last year, did not match with the growth of imports, sources added.
According to these sources, SBP Governor also expressed dismay over the present inflation rate, which was nearly 14 percent. "Overall fiscal situation is being managed well, and revenue collection has improved but we need to keep inflation at a single digit," he added.
Last month, the ECC had been informed that SBP had injected $640 million into the open market to stabilise the rupee.