State Bank of Pakistan reserves have dropped by $47 million to $17.58b

KARACHI: As per the release date of SBP (State Bank of Pakistan), the foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank decreased by 0.3% on a weekly basis.

The SBP’s foreign currency reserves were recorded at $17,578.9 million on August 20, down $47 million from $17,625.9 million on August 13.

The outflow derived on account of debt refunds, According to the central bank,

“On August 23, 2021, the SBP received IMF SDR allocation of $2,751.8 million,” it stated. “This amount will increase foreign exchange reserves of the SBP and will be reflected in the data to be published on September 2, 2021.”

The country’s total liquid foreign currency reserves, which include net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, were $24,619.3 million. The total amount of net reserves held by banks was $7,040.4 million.

Earlier, by offering profitable interest rates to creditors meant at building the foreign exchange reserves, Pakistan loaned out $2.5 billion from Eurobonds on March 30, 2021

It received the first loan tranche of $991.4 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on July 9, 2019, which aided strengthen the reserves. In late December 2019, the IMF released the second loan tranche of around $454 million.

In 2020, the SBP effectively complete foreign debt repayment of over $1 billion on the maturity of Sukuk. The reserves also jumped on account of $2.5 billion in inflows from China.

In December 2019, the foreign exchange reserves exceeded the $10 billion spot owed to inflows from multifaceted lenders with $1.3 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

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