The Senate Standing Committee on Commerce has instructed the Ministry of Commerce and other stakeholders to operationalise the Exim bank before November 30 this year.
The standing committee’s meeting was held with Chairman Senator Syed Shibli Faraz in the chair at the Parliament House on Thursday.
On this occasion, matters related to current status of the Exim Bank, briefing of pharmaceutical sector and follow-up of four legislations were discussed.
Director General (DG) Trade Raheela Tajwar briefed the committee on the status of Exim Bank. She said that Exim bank was approved in the federal budget 2014-15 with allocation of Rs 100 billion as authorised capital with an initial paid-up capital of Rs 10 billion.
She further said that Rs 7 billion had been issued in the last year’s budget and the government has also given instruction to the State Bank of Pakistan to appoint the CEO of Exim Bank but that they had not found a qualified person from the private sector.
Chairman Syed Shibli Faraz said on the occasion that Pakistani exports have been decreasing and a number of organisations are responsible for this. The government announced to establish the Exim Bank in 2014 to facilitate exporters but the bank has still not become operational.
