Pakistan’s foreign reserves surge by $620mn

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) witnessed a surge in the foreign exchange reserves with a reported increase of $620 million, ARY News reported.

The State Bank of Pakistan in a statement said that “the total foreign reserves of Pakistan surged to US$16.62 billion supported by recent Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan transfer, while the SBP reserves crossed $12 billion as of November 29, 2024.”

According to the SBP, the total liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank, increased by $620 million to $12,038.3 million after the official inflow of $500 million from ADB.

The SBP has received $500 million from Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the Climate Change and Disaster Resilience Enhancement Program (CDREP) as a policy-based loan to support disaster risk reduction and resilience in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the net foreign reserves held by commercial banks during the week under review were recorded as $4,581.7 million, as per the State Bank of Pakistan.

It is worth noting here that the total liquid foreign reserves held by Pakistan, in the week ended on November 22, were $16,076.2 million.

Among them, foreign reserves held by the central bank were recorded as $11,418.5 million while commercial banks held net reserves of $ 4,657.7 million, it further stated.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, Saudi Arabia has decided to extend the term of its $3 billion safe deposit in assistance to Pakistan.

According to the statement issued by SBP, Saudi Arabia has extended its term of $3 billion placed with Pakistan for another year.

“The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has extended the term for the deposit of USD 3.00 billion maturing on 05 December 2024 for another year” SBP added.