• Minister stresses $1bn payment for Sukuk bonds to be made on time
• Says ‘baseless speculation’ being spread to fulfil political agenda, urges people to desist from speculation about increased risk

ISLAMABAD: To counter the speculation that stemmed from the recent remarks by senior Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday assured the nation that Pakistan is not going to default, will meet its upcoming $1 billion bonds payment and there was no fuel shortage in the country.

“We have never defaulted before. We will not even be close to a default,” the minister said in his brief address on the state-run PTV.

Mr Dar stressed that the $1bn payment for Sukuk, or Islamic, bonds scheduled to mature on Dec 5 would be made on time, without any delay, and insisted that arrangements had been completed in principle for the upcoming payments.

Several PTI leaders, including Chairman Imran Khan and former minister Hammad Azhar, had recently raised alarm over the country’s apparently deteriorating economic situation that they claimed the government was unable to handle. This compelled the minister to clarify the financial standing of the country.

Mr Azhar had tweeted around two hours ahead of Mr Dar’s address that businesses were in deep crises, and that there was a liquidity crunch that couldn’t be addressed through bank lending as interest rates were very high.

Whereas, former premier Khan had said a couple of days earlier in his address to the PTI’s long march that Pakistan faced the risk of a default. And while this topic also dominated the National Assembly session, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha told the house on Friday that the country did not face any such danger.

The finance minister on Saturday rejected all the rumours and clarified four key points, including payments at the maturity of the five-year Sukuk bonds, oil shortage in the country, widening credit default swap and the widening current account deficit (CAD). He claimed such “baseless speculation” was being spread to fulfil a political agenda.

He further said no one should pay heed to the rumours, adding: “This is highly irresponsible behaviour.”

The PML-N leader reiterated that everything was in order and that bond payments would be made on time in the first week of December. He said another rumour was being spread about Pakistan’s credit default swap. “Our international bonds have very small transactions and technically, there should be no impact on them,” he commented.

The minister added that people should desist from speculation about increased risk, saying such “irresponsible statements” would hurt the country, and should be avoided.

“[Another] rumour being spread was about depleting fuel reserves in the next few days. There is nothing like this,” he stressed, adding that presently the oil reserves were at the level they should be and there was no need to worry, once again calling for rumours to be avoided.

Regarding the CAD, Mr Dar said it was under a strict watch and being monitored and managed for the sake of national interest.

“The current account deficit was at $316 million in September and expected to be below $400m in October,” he said, adding, “If this continues at the same pace, it will be around $5-6bn for the year, (while) the projected was $12bn.”

The finance minister reassured that the CAD was not at a concerning level, while ending his address saying the interest of the country was above any political affiliation and requested people to desist from spreading rumours about the economy.

Even though he didn’t name any individual or party, Dar appeared to be addressing the PTI leadership to issue statements responsibly.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2022