According to central bank statistics released on Thursday, Pakistan’s total liquid foreign currency reserves fell to $14,210.4 million from $14,943 million the previous week.
Total liquid foreign currency reserves have dropped to their lowest level since January 18, 2019.
The breakdown revealed that the State Bank of Pakistan had $8,237.7 million in foreign reserves. The SBP stated that the fall in foreign reserves of $748 million in the previous week was attributable to external loan repayments.
The SBP reserves are at their lowest since October 25, 2019, implying that Pakistan has only 1.21 months of import cover.
Meanwhile, commercial banks’ net foreign reserves were at $5,972.7 million.
The central bank expressed confidence that reserves held by it will rise in the coming days as the revenues of the CDB loan are realised.
The state bank was referring to Finance Minister Miftah Ismail’s announcement a day earlier that Pakistan had signed an RMB 15 billion ($2.3 billion) loan facility agreement with a Chinese consortium of banks, which is expected to help Pakistan’s depleting foreign exchange reserves and local currency depreciation.
Ismail confirmed the news on Twitter, saying that the inflows are expected within a couple of days.
Works at The Truth International Magazine. My area of interest includes international relations, peace & conflict studies, qualitative & quantitative research in social sciences, and world politics. Reach@ aimen.bukhari@tti.org.pk
