The State Bank of Pakistan published an account of Governor Jameel Ahmad’s briefings to senior executives from global financial and investment institutions and credit rating agencies on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings, focusing on Pakistan’s improved macroeconomic indicators while flagging new risks from the Middle East conflict. He reported that inflation averaged 5.7% over the first nine months of the current fiscal year, the external current account remained in surplus, and SBP’s foreign exchange reserves increased to USD 16.4 billion, mainly reflecting SBP purchases from the interbank FX market. With continued purchases and expected official inflows, including under new bilateral arrangements, reserves were projected to rise to around USD 18 billion by June 2026. The update also cited an acceleration in real GDP growth to 3.8% in H1 FY26 (from 1.8% in the first half of the prior fiscal year), a cautious monetary policy stance with a significantly positive real policy rate, primary fiscal surpluses, and the use of targeted subsidies and demand-management austerity measures amid higher energy, freight and insurance costs; it also referenced an IMF staff-level agreement for the third Extended Fund Facility review and second Resilience and Sustainability Facility review. Separately, at a Remittances and Roshan Digital Account roadshow, the Governor highlighted RDA inflows exceeding USD 12.4 billion across more than 917,000 accounts and pointed to recent regulatory enhancements, including expanding eligibility to non-resident entities.

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