Foreign exchange: SBP reserves rise $1.27b to $11.2b

Increase attributed to official inflows from World Bank, ADB, AIIB and China

KARACHI:

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank increased 12.75% on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On June 26, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $11,231 million, up $1,270 million compared with $9,961.2 million in the previous week.

The SBP received around $2,046 million in official inflows, including $737 million from the World Bank, $503 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), $500 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and $300 million as government of Pakistan loan disbursement from China, said a press release issued by the central bank.

“After incorporating government’s external debt payments of $809 million, SBP’s reserves increased by $1,270 million to $11,231 million,” it said.

During the current week, the SBP has received an additional $1,000 million as government of Pakistan loan disbursement from China. These funds will be part of SBP’s weekly reserves data as of July 3, 2020 to be released on July 9, 2020.

Overall, liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $17,971 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $6,740 million.

Pakistan received the first loan tranche of $991.4 million from the International Monetary Fund (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 few months ago, the SBP successfully made 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.

Foreign investment of over $3 billion in the debt market in the previous fiscal year also played an important role in the growing foreign currency reserves.

Earlier, the reserves had spiralled downwards, falling below the $7-billion mark, which raised concern over Pakistan’s ability to meet its financing requirements. However, financial assistance from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and other friendly nations helped shore up the foreign exchange reserves.