SBP reserves remain stable at $13.29b
The multilateral development partners disbursed $1.6 billion in foreign economic assistance in the current fiscal year. PHOTO: FILE
The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank remained stable on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.
On December 11, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $13,298.8 million, the same as in the previous week.
The central bank gave no reason for the unchanged reserves. Overall, liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $20,379.6 million.
Net reserves held by banks amounted to $7,080.8 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 had 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 ADB.