Pak-Afghan trade to be carried out in rupee, not dollar: Tarin

ISLAMABAD – Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin said on Thursday that Pakistani currency will be used for bilateral trade with Afghanistan, instead of US dollar.

The minister revealed it during a meeting of Senate’s Standing Committee on Finance, adding that the neighbouring counter, where the Taliban has recently announced their interim government structure, is facing a shortage of dollars as international financial institutions have seized its assets.

Tarin further said that Pakistan may send human resource to Afghanistan to run various affairs as the Taliban has come into power again after a gap of two decades.

The finance minister also termed food prices the major issue of Pakistan and said that the current account deficit has been witnessing surge since April.

The finance minister told the senators that Pakistan received $450 million from the Asian Development for procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

He also vowed to take the country’s GDP growth to 4.8% during the current fiscal year 2021-22.

The finance minister revealed that Indian hackers had attacked the database of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) a few days back, adding that the system of the revenue authority is being updated.