In 2016, when foreign exchange inflows from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stop, the external sector of the economy is likely to come under pressure, Dhedi told a local news media.
Dhedhi is the chairman of the AKD Group, a business enterprises in Pakistan founded by his late father Haji Abdul Karim Dhedhi.
The BoP reflects all economic transactions of a country with the rest of the world. A BoP crisis can put the national currency under pressure as soon as a country appears to be defaulting on interest payments due to fiscal constraints. In simple words, money leaves the economy during a BoP crisis and the government finds it difficult to borrow further, thus wrecking the value of the national currency.
“I foresee a BoP crisis because exports are declining and foreign direct investment (FDI) is nowhere to be seen. We should forget about achieving a current account surplus this year,” Dhedhi said.
According to the latest export figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan’s exports shrank by $538 million, or 9%, on an annual basis during the first quarter of the current fiscal year. Although the year-on-year rise in the FDI for Jul-Sept was $15.6 million, or 7.7%, the increase seems unimpressive in view of the GSP-Plus status that Pakistani exports enjoy in the European market.
