Foreign exchange: SBP's reserves decrease $216.5m to $10.15b

External debt servicing and other official payments cited as reason for decline

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank decreased 2.09% on a weekly basis, according to data released on Thursday.

On August 10, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $10,152.6 million, down $216.5 million compared with $10,369.1 million in the previous week.

The decrease in reserves has been attributed to external debt servicing and other official payments.

Overall, liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $16,712.8 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $6,560.2 million.

Two weeks ago, China reportedly agreed to immediately give a loan of $2 billion to Pakistan, a move meant to arrest the slide in foreign currency reserves and provide much-needed breathing space to the new government.

Of the agreed amount, $1 billion had already been transferred to the central bank account. According to officials in the Ministry of Finance, the loan would be categorised as official bilateral inflow.



Earlier, the reserves had dipped to an alarmingly low level at $9.06 billion, forcing the central bank to let the rupee depreciate massively on four separate occasions since December 2017, and sparking concerns about the country's ability to finance a hefty import bill and meet debt obligations in coming months.

In April, the SBP's reserves had increased $593 million due to official inflows.

A few months ago, the foreign currency reserves surged due to official inflows including $622 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and $106 million from the World Bank. The SBP also received $350 million under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF).

In January, the SBP made a $500-million loan repayment to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), China.

Pakistan also raised $2.5 billion in November 2017 by floating dollar-denominated bonds in the international market in a bid to shore up official reserves.