SBP reserves rise $259m to $12.33b

Central bank cites no reason for increase


​ Our Correspondent May 08, 2020
PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank increased 2.15% on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On April 30, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $12,329.4 million, up $259 million compared with $12,070.3 million in the previous week.

The central bank gave no reason for the increase in reserves. Overall, liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $18,755.1 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $6,425.7 million. Pakistan received the first loan tranche of $991.4 million from the IMF on July 9 last year, which helped bolster the reserves. In late December, the IMF released the second loan tranche of around $454 million.

Previously, the reserves jumped on account of $2.5 billion in inflows from China.

A couple of months ago, the SBP successfully made a foreign debt repayment of over $1 billion on the maturity of Sukuk. In December 2019, the foreign exchange reserves surpassed the $10-billion mark owing to inflows from multilateral lenders including $1.3 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2020.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ