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.
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).