SBP’s reserves fall below $16b

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased 0.93% on a weekly basis, according to data released on Thursday.

On May 5, the foreign currency reserves held by the central bank were recorded at $15,912.5 million, decreasing $149.1 million or 0.93%, compared to $16,061.6 million in the previous week, according to the central bank. Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $20,790.5 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $4,878 million.

The decrease in reserves is attributed to external debt servicing.

A month ago, the SBP received multilateral inflows of $317 million and made payments of $118 million on account of external debt servicing and other official payments. In January, the SBP made a loan repayment of $500 million to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), China.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2017.

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