Improvement in economic environment, says SBP

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KARACHI:

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has claimed that the third quarter of January-March ended with a ‘visible improvement in the country’s macro-economic environment’.

The third quarterly report of the SBP on the state of the economy said the external sector improved considerably during the period under review.

Benefiting from robust growth in workers’ remittances, higher inflows under the Coalition Support Fund and a sharp reduction in oil prices, the country’s current account posted a notable surplus in the third quarter.

The SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves more than doubled from a year ago, which is enough to finance three months of the country’s import bill, it said in a press release.

“The resulting stability in the exchange rate, together with the government decision to pass on the benefit of the fall in international oil prices to domestic consumers, and the prudent monetary management not only pushed year-on-year CPI inflation down to a decade’s low, but also eased inflation expectations as shown by IBA-SBP’s Consumer Confidence Survey,” it said.