Foreign currency: Reserves fall $111m in a week

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stands at $15,060.2 million

KARACHI:

Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) dipped 1% on January 9 compared to a week earlier, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday.

SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves decreased $111 million to $10,365 million compared to $10,476 million in the previous week.

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $15,060.2 million while net reserves held by banks amounted to $4,695.1 million.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves recorded a rapid increase in the last month of 2014 when the SBP received $1,221 million from multilateral, bilateral and other sources. This was preceded by another 10.6% weekly rise in the SBP’s liquid foreign reserves in the same month when Pakistan received $1 billion by floating Sukuk bonds in the international market.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Pakistan to take the central bank’s gross official foreign currency reserves to $1,416 million by the end of current fiscal year in June.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2015.

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