The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank decreased 1.4 percent on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.
On August 26, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $7.697 billion, down $113 million compared to $7.810 on August 19. Currently, the reserves are at their lowest level since July 2019.
Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $13.403 billion. Net reserves held by banks stood at $5.706 billion, registering a decrease of $5 million.
The central bank said in its statement that it has received proceeds of $1.16 billion (the equivalent of SDR 894 million) from IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) on Aug 31 which would be included in the foreign exchange position for the week ending on September 2.
The SBP had earlier said that proceeds of the loan tranche will help improve its foreign exchange reserves and will also facilitate the realization of other planned inflows from multilateral and bilateral sources.