Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have enhanced by $2 billion due to the inflows received from foreign bonds and Sukuk in the outgoing week.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the total liquid foreign reserves of the country increased to $20.68 billion from $18.68 billion till December 08, 2017.
The foreign reserves held by SBP stand at $ 14.66 billion whereas the net foreign reserves held by commercial and private banks stand at $6.02 billion.
The change in reserves was due to proceeds from Pakistan International Bonds and Pakistan International Sukuk, which attracted a colossal amount of $2.05 billion.
The country had raised some $1.5 billion through sale of 10-year Eurobond at 6.875 percent, while, an amount of $1 billion was generated against sale of five-year Sukuk at 5.625 percent.
However, the country made a tranche of 0.5 billion on the account of external debt servicing and loan repayments to various foreign banks and agencies, which again depleted a whopping amount in the next moments.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves touched all-time high level of $23.3 billion in November 2016. The situation has not been stable in the subsequent months as the reserves continued to deplete in the later months due to repayment of heavy loans to international lending agencies and different foreign banks.
The reserves declined by $3.8 billion since January ($22.2 billion) to November ($18.7 billion)this year mainly because of the continuous outflows of exchange for loan repayment and ballooning import bill.
During the period, the country also received a tranche of $550 million from USA on the account of Coalition Support Fund (CSF) in March but its impact was short-term on reserves.
Even though the major inflows of the foreign exchange in the reserves, the country has been left behind from where it stood in the start of the year 2017. Its reserves reduced to $22.2 billion to $20.68 billion so far in the closing calendar year.
