State bank: Forex reserves soar $1.018b

KARACHI:

Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased 10.9% on a weekly basis on December 19, according to the central bank on Friday.

SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves increased by $1,018 million to $10,365 million compared to $9,347 million in the previous week.

During the week, the SBP received $1,221 million from multilateral, bilateral and other sources, which included $1,051 million received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The SBP made payments of $114 million on account of external debt servicing and other official payments. Out of this amount, $55 million was paid to the IMF, the SBP said. Total liquid foreign reserves stood at $15,098.5 million while net foreign reserves held by banks amounted to $4,733.9 million.

In the first week of December, SBP’s liquid foreign reserves increased 10.6% as result of Pakistan getting $1 billion against issuance of Sukuk bonds.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th,  2014.

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