Foreign currency: SBP’s reserves increase 1.6% week-on-week

KARACHI:  

Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased 1.6% on a weekly basis on June 17, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday.

SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves increased $270 million to $16,816 million compared to $16,546 million in the previous week. During the week, the SBP received $370 million from multilateral, bilateral and other official sources, including $107 million received from the World Bank.

The SBP made payments of $64 million on account of external debt servicing and other official payments during the week.

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $21,770.5 million while net reserves held by banks amounted to $4,955 million. SBP-held foreign exchange reserves had increased 3.1% on a weekly basis on April 1 after the central bank received $978 million during the week from multilateral, bilateral and other official sources.

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

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2016.

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