Finance Ministry presents details of US$ 3.3bln agreement with Saudi Arabia in Senate

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Ministry of Finance presented the details of the US$ 3.3 billion agreement with Saudi Arabia in the Senate.

During question hour, Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin told the House that the government has tried not to pass on to the people the full burden of international increase in petroleum products. “We have reduced the sales tax and Petroleum Development Levy on petroleum products to provide relief to the masses.”

“The foreign exchange reserves of State Bank of Pakistan have increased over the last one year which will help reduce pressure on the rupee,” he maintained.

Shaukat Tarin said that Pakistan received three billion dollars from Saudi Arabia in the month of December 2021 for a period of one year at four percent interest rate. “The country’s exports and remittances are increasing whilst the trade deficit reduced by 1.5 billion dollars last month.”

Responding to a supplementary question, the Finance Minister said that Pakistan has met twenty seven out of twenty eight conditions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). “We have fulfilled our targets and hoped the country will come out of the grey list in the next review meeting of the FATF.”