SBP reserves rise $261m to $13.41b

Increase comes due to official inflows of government

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose 1.98% on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On December 31, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $13,412.3 million, up $261 million compared with $13,150.9 million in the previous week.

According to the central bank, the rise came on the back of official inflows of the government. Overall, liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $20,512.1 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $7,099.8 million.

Pakistan received the first loan tranche of $991.4 million from the IMF on July 9, 2019, which helped bolster the reserves. In late December 2019, the IMF released the second loan tranche of around $454 million.

The reserves had also jumped on account of $2.5 billion in inflows from China. In 2020, 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.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2021.

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