Karachi (June 01, 2018): Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) remained under pressure, falling 2.78% on a weekly basis, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday.
With the PML-N’s tenure ending today (Thursday, May 31), the country’s foreign exchange reserves stand depleted, sparking concern over Pakistan’s ability to meet future payment obligations and manage a bulging current account deficit.
On May 25, foreign currency reserves held by the central bank were recorded at $10,033.8 million, down $286.4 million or 2.78% compared with $10,320.2 million in the previous week.
Overall, liquid foreign reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $16,406.8 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $6,373 million.
In April, SBP’s reserves increased $593 million due to official inflows. Pakistan also raised $2.5 billion in November 2017 by floating dollar-denominated bonds in the international market in a bid to shore up official reserves.
A few months ago, foreign currency reserves surged due to official inflows including $622 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and $106 million from the World Bank.
Earlier, the SBP received $350 million under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF). In January, the SBP made a $500-million loan repayment to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), China.
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