Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) were flat at $12.88 billion, unchanged from the previous week, while those held by commercial banks rose to $4.04 billion, compared with $3.96 billion the previous week.
Foreign exchange reserves hit a record $18.31 billion in the week ending July 30, but have since eased due to debt repayments.
Reserves were boosted in June last year by inflows of $411 million, including a $191.9 million loan from the World Bank, and a $196.8 million loan from the Asian Development Bank.
Higher export proceeds and a record inflow of remittances have also helped support Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.
Remittances rose 18.33% to $5.24 billion in the first five months of the fiscal 2012 compared with $4.43 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to official data.
Islamabad has to start repaying an $8 billion International Monetary Fund loan in early 2012. Without additional sources of revenue, that will put further pressure on Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 6th, 2012.
COMMENTS (5)
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I'm not an economist, but i can see that we just increase our reserves by obtaining loans from IMF, World Bank and ADB. When we repay those loans, our reserves decrease. So to maintain our reserve level (to show the Pakistanis that economy is making progress), we obtain some more loans and so on. Instead of just fake increases in our reserves, we should concentrate on our industries and generate permanant sources of income for our country.
@Umer sahab This is all sended by over seas pakistanis and spend it by crrupt rullers of paki tan.
@Ali Khan: That calculation wasn't easy man.. how did u do it..
@khan: $6.92 billion
Out of this 10 billion is IMF loan that needs to be returned from Feb 2012 onwards... what is left after this?