Foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan witnessed a massive outflow of $691 million, dropping to a 7-month low.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the overall foreign exchange reserves of the country declined to $22.7 billion.
Foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank stood at $16.25 billion, whereas foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks stood at $6.5 billion.
During the week ended 19 November 2021, SBP reserves decreased by $691 million to $16.254 billion, mainly due to external debt repayment.
The SBP’s data stated that the foreign exchange reserves declined by $1.25 billion in the last 15 days. On the other hand, the required inflows of foreign exchange have not arrived in the external account of the country. This outflow of the reserves has put pressure on the value of the Rupee against the Dollar.
It is expected that over $1 billion tranches from IMF coupled with the financial assistance of $3 billion from Saudi Arabia will improve the foreign exchange level in the next few weeks.
Subsequently, the local currency value against the greenback may see recovery and stabilization.