FILE PHOTO: An employee counts U.S. dollar bills at a money exchange in central Cairo, Egypt, March 20, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank increased by 9.5 percent on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.
On February 10, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $3.192 billion, up $276 million compared to $2.916 billion on February 3. However, despite the increase, the central bank reserves remain at their lowest since February 2014.
Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $8.702 billion, up $163 million over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.509 billion, registering a decrease of $114 million during the week.
According to Arif Habib Limited, the current reserves are enough for import cover of fewer than 0.64 months (approximately 19 days), a slight improvement from last week’s import cover. The reserves held by the central bank have declined by $2.3 billion since the start of the current calendar year.