The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank slumped by over half a billion dollars on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.
On July 21, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $8.186 billion, down $541 million compared to $8.727 billion on July 14. In a statement, the central bank said that the decrease was mainly due to external debt repayments.
SBP Foreign Exchange Reserve down by US$541mn to US$8.2bn for the week ending Jul 21, 2023 pic.twitter.com/72IH4sjx5C
— Topline Securities Ltd (@toplinesec) July 27, 2023
Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $13.534 billion, down $531 million over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.348 billion, registering an increase of $10 million during the week.
During the previous week, the reserves held by the central bank had risen by over $4 billion to hit $8.7 billion thanks to inflows Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
