Foreign exchange: SBP’s reserves fall 1.19% week-on-week

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased 1.19% on a weekly basis on December 2, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday.

The SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves dropped $221.6 million to $18,353.2 million compared to $18,574.8 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 $23,344.4 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $4,991.2 million. The decrease in reserves was on account of external debt servicing.

More than a month ago, the central bank had 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, December 9^th, 2016.

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