Rs 60 bn loss after n-tests for Pak

Islamabad: Pakistan suffered an exchange loss of over Rs 60 billion during the first three years of the

post-nuclear test period - May 1998 upto June 2001.

This was due to various financial adjustments adopted to meet shortages caused by international sanctions.

The country also suffered the loss on account of open market operations including Foreign currency exchange swaps to meet the shortages caused by sanctions, a report by Pakistan's Auditor General said.

The State Bank of Pakistan has made a "startling" disclosure that the nuclear tests of May 28, 1998, cost the taxpayers about Rs 22 billion for purchasing dollars from the open market at a much higher rate than from the market rates, the report said.

Following the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's decision to freeze foreign currency accounts and subsequent economic sanctions of G-7 countries, Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz approved the buying of dollars at much higher rates to maintain reserves and pay foreign debt to avoid default on debt payments, the Bank admitted.

Top Bank officials have for the first time ever "confessed" in writing to the Public Accounts Committee that about USD 14 billion dollars were purchased at much higher than market rates during 1998-2004 which resulted in a collective loss of about Rs 20 billion, the Daily Times report said.