Forex reserves: SBP’s kitty goes up 3.9% week-on-week
During the week ending May 23, on account of external debt servicing and other official payments, the SBP made payments of $23 million from its reserves. PHOTO: FILE
Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) recorded a week-on-week increase of 3.9% on May 23, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan on Thursday.
The central bank’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $330 million to $8,650 million compared to $8,320 million in the previous week. The increase in SBP reserves is primarily attributed to inflows of $410 million from multilateral, bilateral and other official sources that include $375 million received under the Coalition Support Fund.
During the week ending May 23, on account of external debt servicing and other official payments, the SBP made payments of $23 million from its reserves.
Recently, the central bank’s reserves received a major increase due to receipts of $2 billion from the issue of sovereign bonds in the international capital market and $139 million from the Islamic Development Bank.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2014.