Balance-of-payment crisis in Pakistan resolved, says Asad Umar

ISLAMABAD: The problem of Pakistan’s ‘balance-of-payment’ is solved after Prime Minister Imran Khan recent visit to China and the country is out of this crisis, said Federal Finance Minister Asad Umer and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a crowded press briefing here on Tuesday.

Asad Umar said, “there was a vacuum of $12 billion in Pakistan’s balance of payments, for which $6 billion were provided by Saudi Arabia and the rest came from China.” “Now there was no balance-of-payment crisis in the country,” he added.

The Finance Minister said that a high-level delegation including governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will be visiting China on November 9 and it will finalise features relating to balance of payments in China.

Asad Umar lamented public outcry over poor economy for the past two months, noting that they had taken several measures for [increasing] exports of the country. He said their focus was on long-term stability in the country.

Meanwhile, Qureshi said they should not be inquired after every foreign tour as to what did the government get.

“Some other things are also achieved during [foreign] visits,” he said.

Earlier, the Finance Minister Asad Umar had said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was an excellent example of cooperation between China and Pakistan and was beneficial for both sides.

“Pakistan has a debt problem for sure, but Pakistan does not have a China debt problem,” he told China Global Television Network (CGTN), at the China International Import Exhibition (CIIE), which is being held in Shanghai.

He made the comments in response to accusations that China was using “debt diplomacy” to expand its influence worldwide.

Asad Umar called the idea of the CPEC being some kind of sinister move by China to cause economic problems to Pakistan “absolute nonsense.”

Speaking of solutions to this problem, apart from increasing domestic savings, Asad Umar also highlighted the importance of working with bilateral partners such as China to boost exports – cooperation that could be enhanced under the events like the CIIE.