Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks came at $5.4 billion..reports Asian Lite News
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that its foreign exchange reserves had decreased by $179 million.
During the week ending on June 2, the total foreign exchange reserves of the Pakistani central bank fell to around $3.9 billion, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement issued by the SBP on Thursday.
The decrease was “due to external debt repayments”, the statement added.
Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks came at $5.4 billion, the central bank said.
Total liquid foreign reserves held by the South Asian country stood at about $9.3 billion, according to the SBP.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments had unanimously decided to shut markets by 8 p.m. across the country as part of the efforts to conserve energy, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said.
He said this while addressing the media following the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting held in Islamabad with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in chair, Geo News reported.
Iqbal said Chief Ministers of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa participated in the huddle while the planning minister of Balochistan represented the provincial government.
This initiative could save around $1 billion annually, he added.
He said representatives of provincial governments were present in the NEC meeting and they had been advised to get it implemented to save precious resources, Geo News reported.
Iqbal said energy had become a big challenge for Pakistan and the government would reduce dependence on fossil fuels and imported oil, and give due focus on energy conservation, Geo News reported.
Likewise, the minister said government would promote green energy including solar, hydel and wind and no new imported fuel�based project would be introduced.
Earlier in January, the federal government had approved a new energy conservation plan under which markets/malls were supposed to be closed by 8.30 p.m., while it also banned the usage of inefficient appliances to save around 62 billion PKR annually.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the authorities concerned to cut the usage of electricity by all departments of the federal government by 30 per cent.
The coalition government had claimed that measures approved by the cabinet aim to save the cash-strapped country about 62 billion PKR and help reduce the energy import bill.
However, the measures were never fully implemented across the country, Geo News reported.
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