Foreign exchange: Reserves down $72m week-on-week

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $20,689.7 million

KARACHI:

Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased 0.45% on a weekly basis on January 15, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday.

SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves decreased by $72 million to $15,752 million compared to $15,824 million in the previous week. The decrease was due to payments of $83 million on account of external debt servicing.

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $20,689.7 million while net reserves held by banks amounted to $4,937.4 million.

Last month, foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP increased 3.5% on a weekly basis after it received $500 million from the IMF.

The SBP received $918 million in November from multilateral, bilateral and other official sources, which include $500 million received from the World Bank and $400 million from the Asian Development Bank.

SBP-held reserves increased 13.4%, or $1,794 million, in October.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd,  2016.

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