ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Asad Umar on Monday denied reports regarding discontinuation of Rs5,000 currency notes, and termed the news being circulated on social media as baseless.
Talking to media outside the Parliament House, he said that no such proposal is under consideration. He said that present government is determined to reduce poverty in the country and added that currently the most important matter was to improve foreign exchange reserves of the country.
Finance Minister Asad Umar has also revealed that so far no decision has been taken to approach IMF over Pakistan’s biggest challenge of depleting foreign exchange reserves. He said the most pressing challenge was the country’s depleting foreign exchange reserves. “We are facing a $2 billion deficit monthly for the last four months in the foreign exchange account. This is the immediate challenge,” Umar told reporters.
Pakistan had loans worth $94 billion, the finance minister said, adding that however no decision has been taken by the government on approaching the International Monetary Fund. The finance minister emphasized that the government’s fight was with issues such as unemployment and inflation and not with the opposition.
When asked about austerity measures, Umar said that the prime minister wanted to send a message that this is the nation’s money and it should be used by them. He said that the present government had already adopted austerity measures on the special directive of Prime Minister Imran Khan, which would help in strengthening the country’s economy.
