Leading Issues in the Economy of Pakistan: Agenda for Reforms Figure 4.1: The Path of Foreign Exchange Reserves June 2021 to October 2022 Source: SBP The critical requirement is to reduce the current account deficit by almost half, as highlighted in the previous section. Projections in the Annual Plan and in the latest IMF Staff Report are given in Table 4.5. The IMF is anticipating a faster growth in exports and less growth in remittances as compared to the Annual Plan. However, both project a reduction in the current account deficit of almost 50 percent. Table 4.5: Projections in the Current Account for 2022-23 Growth Rate(%) Annual Plan IMF Balance of Trade in Goods-34.0-32.8 • Exports 32.4 35.9 • Imports-66.4-68.7 Balance of Trade in Services-4.6-3.5 Net Primary Income-5.9-4.8 Net Secondary Income 35.5 31.8 Current Account Deficit-9.0-9.3 Source: IMF, Planning Commission The overall projection of the balance of payments by the IMF for 2022-23 is given in Table 4.6. Accordingly, the financial account is expected to be in a surplus of$12.7 billion, due to inflow of$5.4 billion of foreign investment, including the flotation of bonds and portfolio investment, and net disbursements to the government of$7.1 billion. 52