Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves rise to $8.726 billion

KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have increased $24 million to $8.726 billion by the week ended February 17, 2023, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

The foreign exchange reserves of the country were $8.702 billion a week ago on February 10, 2023.

The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit the all-time high of $27.228 billion on August 27, 2021. Since then, these have declined by $18.502 billion.

The official foreign exchange reserves of the central bank also increased $65 million to $3.258 billion by the week ended February 17, 2023, compared with $3.193 billion a week ago.

The current level of the official foreign exchange reserves are only to provide import cover for around two weeks, or 19 days.

The import bill for January 2023 has been recorded at $4.856 billion, as per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The benchmark foreign exchange reserves of a central bank should be at a level to provide three months import cover.

The official foreign exchange reserves of the SBP fell sharply to an almost nine-year low. Previously, the official reserves of the SBP were seen at $3.19 billion in February 2014.

The central bank attributed the decline in the foreign exchange reserves to scheduled external repayments.

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank witnessed a record high of $20.146 billion by the week ended August 27, 2021. Since then, these have dropped by $16.888 billion.

Meanwhile, the foreign exchange reserves of the commercial banks fell $41 million to $5.468 billion by the week ended February 17, 2023, compared with $5.509 billion a week ago.

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