Foreign reserves decline as SBP pays debt payments
- By Anjum Wahab -
- Apr 02, 2020
KARACHI: Pakistan’s foreign reserves currently stands at United States Dollar (USD) 17,387.5 million by March 27, shows the latest figures provided by State Bank of Pakistan.
Giving a division of the reserves held by the state bank and commercial banks in its release, the SBP said that currently they held foreign reserves of US$ 11,185.6 million as compared to US$ 6,201.9 million present in commercial banks.
It said that during the week ended on March 27, SBP reserves decreased by US$804 million to US$ 11,185.6 million.
“This decline is attributed primarily to government external debt payments that amounted to US$441 million, and other official payments,” the statement read.
It is pertinent to mention here that the foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased by $690 million to $11.9bn during the week ended on March 20.
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According to the central bank’s report, commercial banks’ holdings increased by $56 million and were calculated at 6.11 billion.
Whereas the country’s net foreign reserves were calculated to be $18.10 billion.