SBP Reserves Decline for Second Straight Week Due to Debt Repayments

The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank declined marginally on a weekly basis, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday.

On July 27, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $8.153 billion, down $32 million compared to $8.186 billion on July 21. In a statement, the central bank said that the decrease was on account of debt repayments.

Overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $13.463 billion, down $70 million over the previous week. The net reserves held by banks stood at $5.309 billion, registering a decrease of $38 million during the week.

It is pertinent to mention here that foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank slumped by over half a billion dollars last week due to external debt repayments.

The central bank’s reserves remained below $5 billion from the start of the year till July 14 when inflows of over $4 billion from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the International Monetary Fund pushed the reserves to $8.7 billion.

Source: Pro Pakistani