Pakistan is out of choppy waters: Dar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Monday said that Pakistan was out of the turbulent phase as recently one of the rating agencies had upgraded ratings for the country, which he said was now moving from stability to growth again.

While welcoming the opening of the Bank of China (BOC)’s second branch here, Dar said Renminbi (RMB) would soon become an internationally adopted parallel currency. Addressing the opening ceremony of the Bank of China, he said that it was a historic movement as six years ago he had handed over the licence for opening the bank’s first branch to its president. Now, it’s a big coincidence that the BOC was opening its second branch, which he said was a great privilege for him to witness.

The minister congratulated the BOC president and his team for extensive efforts in opening the branch and also appreciated cooperation by Pakistan authorities and the finance ministry in this regard.

The minister also congratulated the Peoples Bank of China deputy governor, his team and officials of the China Embassy. Dar said that the BOC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Development Bank and Peoples’s Bank of China were all great financial partners of Pakistan.

He said Pakistan had been passing through a turbulent phase during the last year and extended heartfelt appreciation to the Chinese Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Peoples Bank of China and Chinese Commercial Banks for supporting Pakistan to overcome difficulties.

Dar expressed the hope that RMB was going to be internationalised soon, adding that five countries have already formalised the currency and more countries were planning to do so. He said it would become a parallel internationally acceptable currency and congratulated the BOC deputy governor in advance.

He said that the BOC deputy governor shared that Pakistan was already benefiting from RMB, adding that during his (Dar’s) last visit to China under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he had proposed enhancement of facility up to RMB 40 billion. The minister of finance expressed the hope that cooperation between the two countries in terms of economic and diplomatic ties would reach new heights. He said both the countries were helping each other on all international and domestic issues in the world fora like the United Nations Security Council, UN General Assembly and all other forums.