Forex: Reserves go down 1.1% week-on-week
PHOTO: REUTERS
Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased 1.1% on a weekly basis on August 21, according to data released by the central bank.
SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves decreased $157 million to $13,458 million compared to $13,615 million in the previous week. The SBP made payments of $94 million on account of external debt servicing during the week.
Total liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $18,508.7 million while net reserves held by banks amounted to $5,050.3 million. In the week ended July 31, the SBP’s liquid foreign exchange reserves increased 2.8% to $13,767 million because of official inflows of $418 million, which included receipts of $337 million under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF).
In the week ended July 3, the SBP-held foreign exchange reserves registered an increase of 3.8% due to $514 million received from multilateral and bilateral sources, including $506 million from the IMF.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2015.