Ready to do more to shield Pakistan's economy: SBP governor

Dunya News

Ready to do more to shield Pakistan's economy: SBP governor

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Reza Baqir, in an interview with Bloomberg, said he is ready to do more to shield Pakistan’s economy.

Reza Baqir, while claiming that Pakistan is the most aggressive central banker globally this year, said, “The great global lockdown is the mother of all external shocks for emerging markets.”

“The policy response during COVIF-19 has been prudent. We are absolutely ready to take more actions if there is a need. The SBP expects economy to shrink 1.5% in the year ending June, the first contraction in 68 years.

“Among EM, the problem is particularly exasperated for high debt emerging markets because they have limited policy space to undertake expansionary policies.

“We have several areas we are working on, and refining them in light of development. It is more appropriate to talk about them once we feel the situation is such that we need to do more.”