As per official data released by the State Bank of Pakistan, the foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank has recorded an increase of 5.3% on a weekly basis. The available information regarding foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $11,489.4 million, which were up by $582 million compared with $10,907.3 million in the previous week. The statement also included “This increase is attributed to bilateral and multilateral inflows including $452.4 million received from the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).”
In December 2019, the foreign exchange reserves exceeded to $10-billion that including the $1.3 billion received from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Pakistan received the primary loan tranche of $991.4 million from the IMF on July 9, which helped bolster the reserves. Previously, the reserves had jumped on account of $2.5 billion in inflows from China.
Over time, the declining reserves have forced the central bank to let the rupee depreciate massively, sparking concern about the country’s ability to finance a hefty import bill also as meet debt obligations in coming months.
A few weeks ago, the SBP successfully made a far off debt repayment of over $1 billion on the maturity of Sukuk. Foreign investment of over $1 billion within the debt market also played a crucial role within the growing foreign currency reserves.
