Foreign exchange reserves stand at $10.405 billion

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance, Ishaq Dar on Thursday informed the Upper House of the parliament that the total foreign exchange reserves of the country at present stands at $10.405 billion.

Responding to a question during the question hour, Finance Minister said that in line with the Investment Policy approved by the Central Board of State Bank of Pakistan, foreign exchange reserves are invested with highly rated sovereign and financial institutions, with average credit quality of invested reserves maintained at AA or better, while no investment is made below investment grade.

“The investment composition of reserves includes deposits and fixed income securities of sovereigns and supranational,” he added.

Responding to another question, the Finance Minister said that the total amount of foreign loans (Public and Publicly Guaranteed) obtained by the government during Financial Year 2008-09 to 2012-13 was $14,554.50 million.

He stated that the amount of foreign loans paid back by the government during the said period is $10,629.68 million. “The increase in the Public and Publicly Guaranteed outstanding loans from 2008-09 to 30-06-2013 was 8.73 percent,” he added.

He added that the total amount of foreign aid received from foreign countries during the last three years (01-07-2010 to 30-06-2013) was $657.24 million which does not include amount spent by humanitarian organizations and UN system.