World Desk, AnyTV, Islamabad
Published by: Harendra Chaudhary
Updated Mon, 21 Feb 2022 06:28 PM IST
Summary
This plan was first suggested by a Pakistani living abroad to Imran Khan. Then the Prime Minister sent that suggestion to the EEC. It is said that in the EEC meeting, Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen advocated this plan. He said that after the implementation of this scheme, gold lying idle can be converted into productive investment.
Trapped in a deep economic crisis, the eyes of the government of Pakistan are on the gold available with the common people. The Imran Khan government is considering a plan to borrow gold biscuits and bars from the people. Its purpose is to handle the rapidly depleting foreign exchange reserves. In the last three months, Pakistan has taken foreign loans worth five billion dollars. But the situation has not improved with them.
Now a plan has been prepared to mobilize the gold available with the people. It has been discussed in the Economic Executive Council (EEC). The EEC is a body consisting of all the ministers dealing with economic affairs and the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. The government has not made any announcement about this scheme yet. But a detailed report about the discussions in the EEC has been published by the Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune quoting sources.
Will issue certificate with reasonable interest
According to this proposal, commercial banks will take the gold of the people and issue a certificate to them. The owner of the gold will be given interest at the appropriate rate. The commercial banks will deposit the gold so collected with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). SBP will try to increase the foreign exchange reserves by monetizing the accumulated gold. Sources have said that by adopting this method, Pakistan will be able to avoid taking more foreign loans.
According to the SBP’s report released in December, it already has gold worth $ 3.8 billion. But this is not enough to handle foreign exchange reserves. On February 17, there was only $ 17 billion left in foreign exchange reserves. According to State Bank data, within the last three months, Pakistan has taken a loan of three billion dollars from Saudi Arabia and one billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund. Saudi loan is available at very expensive rate. For this, Pakistan has mortgaged one of its roads to it.
Jewelers can also come under the purview of tax
Experts say that due to low export rates and high imports, the debt taken so far has not solved the problem of foreign exchange reserves. So now a plan has been made to take people’s gold. It is said that this plan was first suggested to Imran Khan by a Pakistani living abroad. Then the Prime Minister sent that suggestion to the EEC. It is said that in the EEC meeting, Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen advocated this plan. He said that with the implementation of this scheme, the idle gold would be converted into productive investment. The plan to give loans to people by keeping gold with banks was also considered in the EEC meeting.
The Pakistan government is also considering measures to bring more jewelers under the tax net to address its fiscal woes. Officials have said that there are around 36,000 jewelers in Pakistan, while only 50 of them have registered themselves for the purpose of paying sales tax.
Expansion
Trapped in a deep economic crisis, the eyes of the government of Pakistan are on the gold available with the common people. The Imran Khan government is considering a plan to borrow gold biscuits and bars from the people. Its purpose is to handle the rapidly depleting foreign exchange reserves. In the last three months, Pakistan has taken foreign loans worth five billion dollars. But the situation has not improved with them.
Now a plan has been prepared to mobilize the gold available with the people. It has been discussed in the Economic Executive Council (EEC). The EEC is a body consisting of all the ministers dealing with economic affairs and the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. The government has not made any announcement about this scheme yet. But a detailed report about the discussions in the EEC has been published by the Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune quoting sources.
Will issue certificate with reasonable interest
According to this proposal, commercial banks will take the gold of the people and issue a certificate to them. The owner of the gold will be given interest at the appropriate rate. The commercial banks will deposit the gold so collected with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). SBP will try to increase the foreign exchange reserves by monetizing the accumulated gold. Sources have said that by adopting this method, Pakistan will be able to avoid taking more foreign loans.
According to the SBP’s report released in December, it already has gold worth $ 3.8 billion. But this is not enough to handle foreign exchange reserves. On February 17, there was only $ 17 billion left in foreign exchange reserves. According to State Bank data, within the last three months, Pakistan has taken a loan of three billion dollars from Saudi Arabia and one billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund. Saudi loan is available at very expensive rate. For this, Pakistan has mortgaged one of its roads to it.
Jewelers can also come under the purview of tax
Experts say that due to low export rates and high imports, the debt taken so far has not solved the problem of foreign exchange reserves. So now a plan has been made to take people’s gold. It is said that this plan was first suggested to Imran Khan by a Pakistani living abroad. Then the Prime Minister sent that suggestion to the EEC. Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen is said to have advocated this plan in the EEC meeting. He said that with the implementation of this scheme, gold lying idle would be converted into productive investment. In the meeting of the EEC, the plan to give loans to the people by keeping gold with the banks was also considered.
The Pakistan government is also considering measures to bring more jewelers under the tax net to address its fiscal woes. Officials have said that there are around 36,000 jewelers in Pakistan, while only 50 of them have registered themselves for the purpose of paying sales tax.