The finance minister says efforts to counter illegal activities have resulted in the foiling of a $20 million foreign currency smuggling attempt and the interception of a massive sugar smuggling operation valued at 5 billion dollars.
Islamabad: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-June 16th, 2023) Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday admitted that Dollar was being smuggled, saying that they were putting efforts to cube the illicit activities.
During a session of the NA standing committee on finance, Finance and Revenue Minister Ishaq Dar admitted that the smuggling of Dollars continued to take place, although at a slower pace. He highlighted that since the political shift in Afghanistan, the outflow of millions of dollars from was halted.
Minister Dar further informed that efforts to counter illegal activities have resulted in the foiling of a $20 million foreign Currency smuggling attempt and the interception of a massive sugar smuggling operation valued at 5 billion dollars.
Addressing concerns about dwindling foreign reserves, Dar revealed that China has agreed to refinance the recent payment of $1.30 billion to settle a Chinese loan. He also disclosed ongoing negotiations with Beijing for a potential $2 billion dollar swap.
In a separate development, a Moody's Investor Service analyst, in an interview with Bloomberg, expressed concerns about Pakistan's financial situation, suggesting that the country might be heading towards default. The analyst also stated that Pakistan might not be able to complete its current IMF loan program by the June 30 deadline.
