Forex reserves dip $127m to $8.03b

SBP’s foreign currency reserves stood at $8,027.4 million, marking $127 million decline compared to previous week

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, held by the central bank, reached $8,027.4 million, down 1.6% week-on-week, reported the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

As of the week ended January 12, 2024, the SBP’s foreign currency reserves stood at $8,027.4 million, marking a $127 million decline compared to the previous week’s total of $8,154.8 million.

The central bank cited debt repayments as the reason for the decrease in reserves. Total liquid foreign currency reserves of the country, inclusive of the reserves held by commercial banks, amounted to $13,145.1 million. Of these, the commercial banks had net reserves of $5,117.7 million.

Read Forex reserves spike to over 5-month high

The SBP’s reserves cumulatively rose $1.32 billion in the prior two weeks, which reflected a rebound from almost six-month low of $6.9 billion hit on December 15, 2023.

The reserves grew on the back of official inflows coming from multilateral creditors. This helped the country to meet the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) end-December quarterly target of net foreign assets, according to industry sources and local research houses.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2024.

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