Foreign currency: SBP’s reserves drop 0.4%

During the week, SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves decreased $48 million to $12,517 million

KARACHI:

Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased 0.4% on a weekly basis on May 1, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday.

SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves decreased $48 million to $12,517 million compared to $12,565 million in the previous week.

Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $17,690.1 million while net foreign reserves held by banks amounted to $5,172.8 million. Two weeks ago, foreign exchange reserves held by the SBP increased 5.1% mainly because of the receipt of HBL privatisation proceeds.

Reserves went up by almost 4% last month following the receipt of $538 million from multilateral, bilateral and other sources, including $498 million from the IMF.

They increased significantly in February when the SBP received $717 million on account of Coalition Support Fund (CSF).

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2015.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.