Foreign exchange: SBP’s reserves fall 0.98% week-on-week

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased 0.98% on a weekly basis on October 28, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday.

The SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves dropped $190 million to $19,130 million compared to $19,320 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 $24,189.3 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $5,058.8 million. The decrease in reserves was due to external debt servicing and other official payments.

Six and seven weeks ago, the SBP had made payments of $239 million and $296 million, respectively, on account of external debt servicing. Over a month ago, the central bank made payments of $60 million.

Over three months ago, the SBP-held reserves had gone up 7.8% on a weekly basis after the bank received $1,340 million from multilateral, bilateral and other official sources including $501 million from the IMF, $502 million from the World Bank and $307 million from the ADB.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2016.

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