Reserves fall by $36m to $4.2b

Reserves projected to rise to around $7-8 billion by the end of the current fiscal year

KARACHI:

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank fell by 0.85% on a week-on-week basis to $4.2 billion, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On March 31, 2023, the SBP’s foreign currency reserves stood at $4,207.9 million, down by $36 million compared to $4,244.3 million on March 24. The central bank attributed the decrease in foreign exchange reserves to debt repayments.

Overall, the liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including the net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $9,759.8 million. The net reserves held by banks amounted to $5,551.9 million.

Ismail Iqbal Securities Head of Research Fahad Rauf recently said that any significant improvement in Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves depended on the revival of International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) loan programme and the inflow of fresh financing from other multilateral and bilateral creditors.

“They (FX reserves) are projected to rise to around $7-8 billion by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, 2023,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2023.

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