According to statistics issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday, the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves fell by 5.1 percent on a weekly basis.
The SBP’s foreign currency reserves were $9.226 billion on June 3, down $497 million from May 27 when they were $9.723 billion. The reserves of central banks are at their lowest level since November 2019. The fall in reserves was attributed to the servicing of external debt, according to the central bank.
The country’s total liquid foreign currency reserves were at $15.176 billion, including net reserves held by institutions other than the SBP. Banks had $5.950 billion in net reserves on hand.
Miftah Ismail, the Finance Minister, stated on Thursday that the country’s foreign exchange reserves will increase to more than $12 billion by early next week. Speaking at the launch of the Pakistan Economic Survey for the Financial Year 2021-22, the minister stated that reserves will grow if China paid $2.4 billion.
Due to inflows from multilateral lenders, notably $1.3 billion from the Asian Development Bank, the country’s foreign exchange reserves reached $10 billion in December 2019. (ADB).
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