Many bundle of US 100 dollars bank notes
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has revealed that the country’s foreign reserves have fallen by $602 million during the week ending on June 22. According to the figures released by Pakistan’s central bank, foreign currency reserves stand at $9.663 billion only.
Yesterday, SBP mentioned that the said amount of $602 million was used for debt servicing and other payments during this week.
Overall, Pakistan’s foreign reserves stood at $16.244 billion. However, the foreign exchange holdings of commercial banks rose by $48 million in just one week. The commercial banks’ holdings now amount to $6.581 billion in total.
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The holdings by commercial banks have been increasing lately as they touched $5.258 billion up from $4.775 billion last week.
Commercial holdings have increased as well in the past year by a staggering $1.325 billion.
Experts say that the current figure of $9.663 billion is not enough to meet the country’s import needs for more than two months. The trade deficit has been on the rise as well as the governments have failed to generate a debt-free cash inflow.
The rupee has also been taking hits against the dollar in the recent days as it touched a record-low value of around Rs 122 against one dollar at one point. Despite the perception that low value of rupee will minimize the import bill, there has been no significant decrease in the trade deficit.
Via Dawn
