ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar clearly stated that the government will not utilize the commercial banks foreign exchange reserves.
Dar said, “The government would not take over foreign exchange held by commercial banks.”
He said that his earlier statement on the country’s reserves was twisted for ulterior motives.
National foreign exchange reserves always include forex held with SBP and Commercial Banks. Recently I quoted the forex reserves figure based on this principle. Some vested elements who ruined this country’s economy in the past, gave it a deliberate twist and started a campaign
— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) January 11, 2023
Finance Minister stated this on Wednesday after seeing a propaganda about the government’s intention to consume commercial banks foreign exchange reserves.
A few days ago, in an interview to a TV channel, Dar quoted country’s foreign exchange reserves at $10 billion, including $5.8 billion of the commercial banks.
Some elements used this statement negatively and launched a campaign on social media claiming the government is going to utilize reserves of the commercial banks, Dar added.
The statement also created speculations that the government could confiscate dollars from private banks as was done in 1998 when Dar was the finance minister.
Finance Minister said, “His comment was “greatly misconstrued” and nothing of the sort will happen.”
Dar pointed out that prior to 1999, every dollar that came in Pakistan was deposited with the State Bank of Pakistan. He said that the commercial banks had not authority to hold deposits of dollars before 1999.
Minister said, “In Feb 1999, being finance minister, we devised a system and allowed commercial banks to hold a substantial amount of dollars.”
Meanwhile, in June 30, 1999, three categories were created for the foreign exchange reserves — forex with the SBP, commercial banks and total (national reserves).
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
