The foreign exchange reserves of the country have surged to a stable at $20.52 billion Position with additional inflows of $2.58 billion in 2020.
According to the latest data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $20.512 billion as of December 31, 2020.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the foreign exchange reserves stood at $17.9 billion by 2019-end as compared to the current level of $20.512 billion.
Total liquid foreign exchange reserves shot up by $258.1 million on a week-over-week (WoW) basis.
Net reserves with the central bank went up by an even higher amount, to the tune of $261.4 million, while the net reserves with banks other than the central bank fell by $3.3 million.
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The break-up of the foreign reserves position is as under:
- Foreign reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan stood at $13.412 billion.
- Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $7.099 billion.
- Overall, the total liquid foreign reserves of the country stood at $20.512 billion.
The country received inflows of foreign exchange from various sources including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and etc on the account of Covid-19 relief and development projects.
Pakistan also received a loan of over $1 billion in the mid of 2020 from China to improve its foreign exchange position.
During the year, the country was given relief on repayment of $ 2.7 billion loans by G20 countries.
This improvement in foreign reserves is a welcome move and could be attributed to rising exports, heavy inflow of remittances, and overseas Pakistanis sending money through Roshan Digital Account.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Imran Khan shared export data for November and December 2020 and congratulated the exporters and the Ministry of Commerce for increasing the country’s exports. Pakistan has posted a higher improvement in exports as compared to both India and Bangladesh.
